Women‑led governments more likely to deliver on poll promises: study

Governments with women in prominent leadership roles are more likely to fulfill campaign promises, concludes a study of 12 countries. The study also concludes that Governments in which women were well represented are also more likely to fulfill their campaign promises. While the forces of the patriarchal structure love to claim women are handicapped by "mood swings", the data seem to suggest that women are more responsible than men. A UN study, backed by more than 20 years' worth of Indian data came to the conclusion that governments were less likely to be corrupt if women were involved in leadership roles. The study comes not long after many women leaders across the world have done significantly better than men while dealing with the Coronavirus pandemic. Turns out all that rhetoric from men in leadership positions only cost the lives of their own people during the pandemic.

The study found that constituencies represented by women had significantly greater economic and infrastructure development. Additionally, previous research has found governments are less corrupt when more women are involved, reported The Swaddle. “Our results clearly indicate that women leaders reacted more quickly and decisively in the face of potential fatalities,” Supriya Garikipati, a developmental economist at Liverpool University and the study’s co-author, told The Guardian in August. New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, Germany’s Angela Merkel, Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen, Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen, and Finland’s Sanna Marin had done well to contain the spread of the virus while men continued to fail their people. Countries with high death rates including America and Britain were all led by men.

The study found that women leaders were more proactive which helped combat the pandemic. “Our results clearly indicate that women leaders reacted more quickly and decisively in the face of potential fatalities,” said Supriya Garikipati, a developmental economist at Liverpool University. “In almost all cases, they locked down earlier than male leaders in similar circumstances. While this may have longer-term economic implications, it has certainly helped these countries to save lives, as evidenced by the significantly lower number of deaths in these countries.” Not to mention that leaders such as Donald Trump, and Boris Johnson fought lockdowns despite scientists urging them to take action. Trump was guilty of not mandating masks and social distancing guidelines, while also not encouraging them at his events while serving as the President. The analysis published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research and the World Economic Forum studied 194 countries and found the difference could “may be explained by the proactive and coordinated policy responses” adopted by women leaders.

While there were many factors the study considered when looking at the response of various countries to the pandemic, it concluded that women leaders made a huge difference which helped them combat the pandemic. GDP, total population, population density, the proportion of elderly residents, and annual health spending per head were some of the factors considered in the study. Given that only 19 of the nearly 200 countries were led by women, the study the authors decided on a “nearest neighbor” country to offset the small sample size, pairing Germany, New Zealand, and Bangladesh with male-led Britain, Ireland, and Pakistan and so on. “This analysis clearly confirms that when women-led countries are compared to countries similar to them along with a range of characteristics, they have performed better, experiencing fewer cases as well as fewer deaths,” said Garikipati. The standout factor was that countries with women leaders locked down their countries much earlier than men and showed more faith in science. Many of the leaders who are men remained in denial over the pandemic and also portrayed themselves as strongmen. Bolsonaro, Trump, and Boris Johnson refused to wear masks in public places and ended up getting Coronavirus. 

Nothing puts it into more context than the Texas governor Greg Abbott announcing, earlier this week, that he was ending the mask mandate in the state and opening businesses to full capacity while ignoring the Coronavirus situation in the state. Only 7 percent of the people have been fully vaccinated in Texas, reported The Guardian. “It is now time to open Texas 100 percent,” a maskless Abbott declared at a crowded restaurant in the city of Lubbock.

At the same time, New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared a lockdown on the country's biggest city, Auckland, on Saturday after one person tested positive for Coronavirus. "Based on this, we are in the unfortunate but necessary position to protect Aucklanders again," said Ardern while announcing the lockdown, reported NBC News. New Zealand is also one of the most inclusive governments with its parliament having the largest proportion of LGBTQ+ members.