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What Do Countries With The Best Coronavirus Responses Have In Common? Women
Leaders by Avivah Cox

Political Leaders Showing the Way

Looking for examples of true leadership in a crisis? From Iceland to Taiwan and from Germany
to New Zealand, women are stepping up to show the world how to manage a messy patch for
our human family. Add in Finland, Iceland and Denmark, and this pandemic is revealing that
women have what it takes when the heat rises in our Houses of State. Many will say these are
small countries, or islands, or other exceptions. But Germany is large and leading, and the
U.K. is an island with very different outcomes. These leaders are gifting us an attractive
alternative way of wielding power. What are they teaching us?

Communicativeness

These leaders took care to clearly and effectively communicate to people what they were
doing and why. This resulted in the "female leadership trust advantage" in which women
leaders are able to win more trust in some crisis situations due to their interpersonal skills.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's scientific yet concise explanation of how coronavirus

transmission works helped Germans understand why it was so critical to contain the virus as
early as possible. And she stood up early and calmly told her countrymen that this was a
serious bug that would infect up to 70% of the population. “It’s serious,” she said, “take it
seriously.” She did, so they did too. Testing began right from the beginning. Germany jumped
right over the phases of denial, anger and disingenuousness that have been observed
elsewhere. The country’s numbers are far below its European neighbors.
Decisiveness

Among the first and the fastest responses was from Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan. Back in January,
at the first sign of a new illness, she introduced 124 measures to block the spread without
having to resort to the lockdowns that have become common elsewhere. She has sent 10
million face masks to the U.S. and Europe at the brink of the pandemic. Tsai managed what
CNN has called “among the world’s best” responses, keeping the epidemic under control, still
reporting only seven deaths.

Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand was early to lockdown and crystal clear on the maximum level
of alert she was putting the country under—and why. She imposed self-isolation on people
entering New Zealand astonishingly early, when there were just 6 cases in the whole country,
and banned foreigners entirely from entering soon after. Decisiveness is saving New Zealand
from the storm. As of mid-April they have suffered only four deaths, and where other
countries talk of lifting restrictions, Ardern is adding to them, making all returning New
Zealanders quarantine in designated locations for 14 days.

Empathy

During difficult times, compassionate leadership style is especially effective. Take Norway’s
Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, who had the innovative idea of using television to talk directly
to her country’s children. Solberg held a dedicated press conference where no adults were
allowed. She responded to kids’ questions from across the country, taking time to explain why
it was OK to feel scared. The originality and obviousness of the idea takes one’s breath away.
How many other simple, humane innovations would more female leadership unleash?

Jacinda Ardern, the 39-year-old prime minister of New Zealand, is forging a path of her own.
Her leadership style is one of empathy in a crisis that tempts people to fend for themselves.
Her messages are clear, consistent, and somehow simultaneously sobering and soothing.
Unlike the countries that declared "war on Covid-19", the government's message was that of
a country coming together. It urged people to "Unite Against Covid-19". Ms Ardern has
repeatedly called the country "our team of five million". And after she announced a complete
lock-down, she went on to Facebook Live, saying she wanted to "check in with everyone" as
they prepared to hunker down. And her approach isn’t just resonating with her people on an
emotional level. It is also working remarkably well. People feel that Ardern doesn’t preach at
them; she’s standing with them. And they may even think, “Well, I don’t quite understand
why the government did that, but I know she’s got our back.” There’s a high level of trust and
confidence in her because of that empathy.

Generally, the empathy and care which all of these female leaders have communicated seems
to come from an alternate universe than the one we have gotten used to. It’s like their arms
are coming out of their videos to hold you close in a heart-felt and loving embrace. Who knew
leaders could sound like this? Now we do.
Now, compare these leaders and stories with the strongmen using the crisis to accelerate a
terrifying trifecta of authoritarianism: blame-“others,” capture-the-judiciary, demonize-the-
journalists, and blanket their country in I-will-never-retire darkness (Trump,
Bolsonaro, López Obrador, Modi, Duterte, Orban, Putin, Netanyahu…).

There have been years of research timidly suggesting that women’s leadership styles might
be different and beneficial. Instead, too many political organizations and companies are still
working to get women to behave more like men if they want to lead or succeed. Yet these
national leaders are case study sightings of the seven leadership traits men may want to
learn from women.

It’s time we recognized it—and elected more of it.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2020/04/13/what-do-countries-with-
the-best-coronavirus-reponses-have-in-common-women-leaders/#5e7c36253dec