Women Leaders and Pandemic Performance: A Spurious Correlation

Abstract

The connection between women leaders and superior pandemic performance is likely spurious. This narrative overlooks that women currently govern precisely the kinds of countries that should mount effective pandemic responses: wealthy democracies with high state capacity. This article maps where women currently serve as presidents and prime ministers. The article then uses data from the Varieties of Democracy Project and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to show that many women-led countries score high on state capacity and that high-capacity states have low coronavirus mortality regardless of whether they are led by women or by men. Arguments emphasizing women chief executives’ superior pandemic performance, while offered in good faith, are misleading.

Care to trust? Gender and trust in leaders during the Coronavirus pandemic

“…Our analysis suggests that citizens do seek traits that are caring and communal when evaluating trust in leaders during the Coronavirus pandemic, supporting early media coverage praising largely female leaders for displaying such traits (Hassan and O'Grady 2020;Piscopo 2020). Indeed, agreeing that the leader has exhibited caring traits is associated with increased trust, as hypothesised; evaluating the leader as competent is also associated with greater trust.…”

“…In this article, we develop an argument that the determinants of trust in leaders during the pandemic are likely to be heterogeneous between genders. In the early stages of the pandemic, female leaders were praised for their better handling of the crisis owing to their more empathetic, relatable and personable communications alongside quick and unambiguous action (Hassan and O'Grady 2020), though arguably their objectively stronger performance is confounded by state capacity and wealth (Piscopo 2020). Drawing on social role theory, we argue that trust in leaders may follow the same gendered patterns, in which the perceived "caring" of leaders has a stronger effect for women than it does men.…”

Women prime ministers and COVID‐19: Within‐case examinations of New Zealand and Iceland

“…Dr. Magnús Gottfreðsson, the Chief of Infectious Disease Research at the National University Hospital of Iceland, echoed resource limitations and leadership taking swift action to increase capacity. Piscopo (2020) argues that women leaders may be more inclined to increase capacity to address the pandemic and our study provides possible confirmation of this.…”

“…Much of the early literature on the pandemic has emphasized regime type and level of development as among the most critical explanatory factors for successful outcomes (Coscieme et al, 2020; Park, 2021; Piscopo, 2020), while other global models have not found a relationship between most measures of state capacity and death rates (Bosancianu et al, 2021). Regardless, not all wealthy, developed democracies have experienced the same levels (proportionally) of confirmed cases and deaths.…”

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

“… 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. Societal norms and expectations from the public audience may also influence how a leader chooses to address their citizens, which must be considered in assessing the efficacy of their communication.…”