Female Governing Intuition

"Our findings show that COVID-19 outcomes are systematically and significantly better in countries led by women. Even accounting for institutional context and other controls, being female-led has provided countries with an advantage in the current crisis."

"Risk aversion may manifest differently in different domains -- human life versus economic outcomes -- with women leaders being significantly more risk-averse in the domain of human life, but more risk-taking in the domain of the economy."

Report: Centre for Economic Policy Research, Washington

A new study published by economists Supriya Garikpati and Uma Kambhampati under the imprint of the Centre for Economic Policy Research lays claim to having proven without a doubt that those countries led by women have been superior in controlling the global pandemic for their nations' ultimate benefit, right from the very start when the world was placed on high alert that a global pandemic was in the process of laying the world low.

It isn't all that hard to identify those countries where the executive administration in collaboration with the individual nations' top health advisers have conducted a poorly-envisioned and -outcomed national strategy to deal with the fallout of the SARS-CoV-2 virus causing COVID-19, simply by reviewing the numbers of infected cases and the deaths caused by COVID-19. The United States, where the research for the study citing women-led outcomes as superior, a case in point for high infection and death rates.

The top ten  countries in the world whose outcomes have been poor are all male-led, according to the Independent, with a cautionary note from the report's authors that every country possesses variables unique to the country itself, making a one-on-one comparison difficult. And then there is the simple fact that merely ten percent of nations worldwide are led by women to begin with.

Photo-Illustration: Sam Whitney; Getty Images

The report's authors began by comparing women-led countries with other countries and matching  demographics linked to the spread of the coronavirus; primarily population size and GDP, so New Zealand for example, was matched with Ireland, Germany with the United Kingdom, and Bangladesh with Pakistan.

What the investigators found across the board is that those countries with fewer COVID-19 cases were all led by women, and fewer deaths occurred in those women-led countries than occurred in those countries governed by their male counterparts.

Led by Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand's 1,455 cases and 22 deaths compared favourably with Ireland's counts of 25,826 cases of coronavirus and 1,763 deaths reported as caused by the complications linked to COVID-19. The disparity could conceivably be linked to the fact that women-led countries were more inclined to swiftly bring in social distancing regulations and impose lockdowns to curb the first wave of the virus, according to the report's authors.

Women, according to the research conclusion. are more averse to risks in comparison to their male counterparts. Representing a potential explanation clarifying why it is that countries led by women made the determination to lock down more immediately than their male-led counterpart nations. The added recognition that women are more risk-averse relating to saving lives meant that women were conversely prepared to risk their economies, in exchange.

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen celebrates victory with her supporters in Taipei. Taiwan has managed to curb the coronavirus pandemic despite its proximity to China. (AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying)