Are women leaders significantly better at controlling the contagion?

Abstract

Recent media articles have suggested that women-led countries are doing better in terms of their responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. We examine an ensemble of public health metrics to assess the control of COVID-19 epidemic in women- versus men-led countries worldwide based on data available up to June 3. The median of the distribution of median time-varying effective reproduction number for women- and men-led countries were 0.89 and 1.14 respectively with the 95% two-sample bootstrap-based confidence interval for the difference (women - men) being [-0.34, 0.02]. In terms of scale of testing, the median percentage of population tested were 3.28% (women), 1.59% (men) [95% CI: (-1.29%, 3.60%)] with test positive rates of 2.69% (women) and 4.94% (men) respectively. It appears that though statistically not significant, countries led by women have an edge over countries led by men in terms of public health metrics for controlling the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide.

Words matter: political and gender analysis of speeches made by heads of government during the COVID-19 pandemic

“…Previous research that has correlated specific public health metrics with leaders’ gender suggests countries led by women may demonstrate slightly more success. 3 4 However, others have emphasised that factors such as governance and existing capacity are also at play. 6 The differences in both pandemic response and in communication are influenced by more than just gender, including a complex interplay of geographic context, political ideologies, socio-economic context, political history of the country, current social movements, and population demographics.…”

“…A recent study analysing the context and chronology of presidential speeches in Brazil revealed the relationship between statements made by President Bolsonaro on COVID-19 prevention measures and adherence to social distancing policies. 2 Additional research has noted that, while the difference is not statistically significant, countries led by women have seen better public health metrics in terms of COVID-19 response compared with countries led by men 3 and are correlated with more proactive policy response such as implementing lockdown measures. 4 While risk perception and health behaviours may be non-partisan in theory, citizens’ behaviours are likely influenced by political leaders’ messages and calls to action or inaction.…”

<p>When Politics Meets Pandemic: How Prime Minister Netanyahu and a Small Team Communicated Health and Risk Information to the Israeli Public During the Early Stages of COVID-19</p>

“…95 During the COVID-19 crisis, countries whose political leaders were able to coordinate between different key sectors and involve the various branches of government, the public and scientific experts in the decision-making process while at the same time providing social and economic support to their citizens and containing various conflicts were able to deal more effectively with COVID-19. [96][97][98] Crisis management by a leader, particularly if that leader employs the centralist method, requires the leader to serve as a positive role model. The findings of this study indicate that Netanyahu and the other key figures leading the crisis did not strictly comply with the guidelines they imposed on the public, thus serving as negative role models.…”

Identity Leadership in a Crisis: A 5R Framework for Learning from Responses to COVID‐19

“…Writing at the time, many commentators argued that the success of leaders like Fredericksen and Merkel (as well as Ardern, Ing‐Wen, and Jakobsdóttir) could be attributed partially (if not wholly) to the fact that they were women (Bell, 2020; Garikipati & Kambhampati, 2020; Persaud, 2020; Purkayastha et al., 2020; Sergent & Stajkovic, 2020). There is certainly some evidence that female leaders did a better job at keeping COVID‐19 cases and fatalities lower than male leaders.…”