In a recent interview with USA Today Abigail Post, an assistant professor of national security and political science at Anderson University in Indiana, said that women ‘are often just better leaders.’ The Guardian goes even further and says female leaders are ‘the secret weapon in the fight against coronavirus’. The way world female leaders are handling the current pandemic situation totally proves this point!
Jacinda Ardern (New Zealand)
‘We go hard and we go early’ is a phrase by New Zealand’s PM that went viral back in March, when she first announced upcoming Alert Level 4 restrictions.
Since then, there’s been a viral map naming Australia ‘New New Zealand’ and ‘Big Island of New Zealand’ and a petition to annex Australia that was re-shared by our neighbours 18,000 times in just three days. There was also a Washington Post article saying that ‘New Zealand isn’t just flattening the curve, it’s squashing it.’ And, of course, there was another viral petition to make Jacinda Ardern ‘the President of the World’.
The world loves Jacinda Ardern and her actions!
The same happened here at home. For many Kiwis, her daily press-conferences have become the guiding light in these uncertain times and NZ Herald even called them ‘New Zealand’s favourite reality TV show’.
But most importantly, as a result of her robust decisions, New Zealand has less than 1,500 cases with only 8, 5 and then 3 new cases now being added daily.
While handling the global pandemic situation, Jacinda Ardern has, without a doubt, proved once again that she is a compassionate, honest and forward-thinking leader.
Princess Sofia of Sweden
Princess Sofia of Sweden absolutely charmed us with her decision to volunteer at the Sophiahemmet Hospital in Stockholm, of which she is also the Honorary Chair.
To do this, she completed an intensive three-day training course and is now performing non-medical duties such as disinfecting surfaces and equipment. She also helps in the kitchen.
Here are, by the way, a few tips to help you keep your house clean from coronavirus.
Princess Sofia of Sweden might not be making huge decisions affecting the whole country but she is definitely doing her bit and doing it brilliantly.
She has already inspired many more people to take the same course she did and volunteer at their local hospitals. In the first week after the announcement, 80 more people took the course! Isn’t that the best impact?
On the royal Instagram account she shares with Prince Carl Philip, Sofia wrote: “To have the opportunity to help in this difficult time is extremely rewarding.”
Sanna Marin (Finland)
Led by the world’s youngest Prime Minister, Finland is the first country in the world to be run completely by women.
The recent poll showed that 85% of Finns are happy with the way Sanna Marin and her government are handling the pandemic. Women seem to be especially supportive of her – with 91% of female voters saying they’re satisfied with her actions.
Finland has recently doubled its testing capacity and has also started antibody testing. They introduced lockdown measures before the first death and are now seeing a decrease in new cases.
According to Marin’s recent statement, the country is now ready to gradually start lifting the restrictions. They’re adopting ‘a hybrid strategy’, which means the changes will be implemented step-by-step.
Schools, libraries and other public spaces will remain closed till May 13th. Restaurants will only serve takeaway orders till the end of May. And there won’t be any public gatherings of over 500 allowed till the end of July.
Angela Merkel (Germany)
Just like Jacinda Ardern, Angela Merkel made a decision quite early to shut the borders, close all schools and day care centres and place restrictions on mass gatherings. They’ve done more testing than anywhere else in Europe and have all the equipment to perform around 500,000 tests a week. Angela Merkel also self-isolated for two weeks.
As a result, Germany has not only seen a decrease in new infections and a relatively small number of deaths but also has the capacity to help other countries struggling with this battle. Germany is now often named as an example to follow.
Tsai Ing-wen (Taiwan)
With a population of nearly 24 million people, Taiwan has less than 500 cases of coronavirus. And that’s with mainland China being their closest neighbour! Led by President Tsai Ing-wen, the first female leader in the history of Taiwan, they began to check travellers in late December, when the words ‘coronavirus’ and ‘COVID-19’ were hardly even known in the world.
They have also leveraged their health insurance, immigration and customs databases to create one big data for analysis. QR-codes, online alerts, SMS notifications and hotlines were all innovations quickly implemented to create a transparent and efficient system of tracking, identifying and eliminating any cases.
In fact, Taiwan appears to be so well prepared that they’ve even managed to donate 10 million masks to Europe and the USA.