Why women leaders have shone through in dealing with pandemic

Shreya Garg

 ‘Frailty, thy name is woman!’ The line from ‘Hamlet’ by Shakespeare no longer holds true. With Angela Merkel, Erna Solberg, Sanna Marin, Jacinda Ardern and Sheikh Hasina earning recognition for their distinctive and effective style of leadership, it’s time we gave credit where it has been long overdue.

For long, we have been obsessed with the Trumps and Putins of the world, blatantly ignoring the women leaders who have propelled progress without inviting any controversy or being populist themselves. And by doing so, they have won many hearts over the years. With their style of leadership, they have set a benchmark, compelling their male counterparts to up their game.

Take Angela Merkel, for instance, who is referred to as the de facto leader of Europe or “the decider”. She was the one who called the shots during the Euro crisis. With her stewardship, she adroitly fended off a long-term recession in Germany by introducing economic stimulus packages and reducing the working hours. Another testimony to her brilliance can be gauged by the fact that in Germany, the number of Covid-19 deaths reported till date is far less as compared to other countries in Europe and the UK. Merkel recognised the magnitude of the problem early on, and dealt with it effectively. Her handling of the Covid crisis has been widely appreciated.

For the sixth consecutive year, Norway has been ranked as the best democracy in the world. Topping the charts in the World Happiness Report, and a country with one of the best health and education systems, Norway’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg has made us all proud. Given that the Covid scare had kids all worked up, Solberg helped ease their fears by holding a 30-minute press conference for them. And subsequently, measures were taken to mitigate the spread of the virus.

Breaking the glass ceiling, Sanna Marin, who can easily pass off as a college-goer, is the Prime Minister of Finland, and the youngest PM in the world. All of 34, Marin has been fighting for gender equality, and has reduced the working hours, giving due credence to the concept of work and play. Unbitten by the bug of pompousness, she does not seek fame. She is affable, and at the same time her style of working is effective. Finland’s response to the Covid-19 crisis under her leadership has also been quite remarkable.

Memorable as it was to see Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern take the oath of PM of New Zealand in 2017, she has been a success. Jacinda’s response to the two consecutive mass shootings at mosques by a terrorist in Christchurch, on March 15, 2019, was exemplary. Not only did she handle the worst attack on her country’s soil effectively, but also prevented communal clashes. And now with the Covid-19 pandemic having engulfed the whole world, her handling of it has been hailed globally. With her strategy of ‘go early, go hard’, she had the fortune of announcing it to the world that hers was the first country to declare a victory over the Covid-19 crisis.

Not just in Europe or Australia, women leaders have marked their presence around the globe. A case in point is Bangladesh’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Taking care of lakhs of refugees is no mean feat, especially for a country with limited resources. Hasina took it upon herself to feed more than 11 lakh refugees from Myanmar. At a time when all other countries refused to take in the Rohingya refugees, the Bangladesh Government’s humanitarian effort deserves applause, which it rightly got with many even suggesting that Hasina be given a Nobel prize for her efforts.

It’s difficult to laud all women leaders who have done exceedingly well in a crisis-like situation simply because there are so many of them. However, a few traits that they share in common are resilience, benevolence, humility and humanity.

Any type of crisis has a humanitarian angle to it, and women because of their more human-centric approach respond better in such situations. One can only hope that we can elect leaders who do not end up going to war compulsively, but instead support the concept of sustainable development.