#GAReads | Women leaders are doing a disproportionately great job at handling the pandemic. So why aren't there more of them?
President Tsai Ing-wen inspects the Central Epidemic Command Center on April 2, 2020. Photo credit: Office of the President [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons.
“Women leaders are doing a disproportionately great job at handling the pandemic. So why aren't there more of them?”:
In Taiwan, early intervention measures have controlled the coronavirus pandemic so successfully that it is now exporting millions of face masks to help the European Union and others.
Germany has overseen the largest-scale coronavirus testing program in Europe, conducting 350,000 tests each week, detecting the virus early enough to isolate and treat patients effectively.
In New Zealand, the prime minister took early action to shut down tourism and impose a month-long lockdown on the entire country, limiting coronavirus casualties to just nine deaths.
All three places have received accolades for their impressive handling of the coronavirus pandemic. They are scattered across the globe: one is in the heart of Europe, one is in Asia and the other is in the South Pacific.
But they have one thing in common: they're all led by women.
The success of these and other women-led governments in dealing with a global pandemic is all the more noteworthy, given that women make up less than 7% of world leaders.