Female-led countries have NOT performed significantly better in COVID-19 pandemics than those controlled by men, a study has found
- US and UK experts compared data on COVID-19 deaths across 175 countries
- Of these countries, 16 are led by women and 159 are managed by male leaders
- The team found no statistically significant difference in response between these
- Instead, the bias of the media towards developed countries has avoided speculation, they said
- This has identified some successful female leaders – such as Ardern and Merkel
- The responses of male leaders like Vietnam have been neglected, they said
National responses to the coronavirus pandemic have not been significantly more successful in these women-led countries, compared to men, a study said.
US and UK researchers analyzed the number of deaths from COVID-19 in 175 countries during the opening months of the pandemic.
The team found that there was no statistically significant support for the idea that female leaders were better at treating pandemics.
Instead, they argued, pandemic outcomes tend to depend on a number of other factors – including country-specific cultural values.
The notion that women-led countries have improved as a result of sexual orientation in the media, the researchers suggested.
This has extended the success of some women in developed, developed countries – such as Jacinda Arden from New Zealand and Angela Merkel from Germany.
At the same time, this bias has highlighted less successful results from prominent countries such as the UK and the US, whose leaders, Johnson and Trump, are men.
Situations in other countries – such as Vietnam, where male PM Nguyễn Xuân Phúc has kept COVID-19 deaths to less than 40 – have been overlooked – the team said.
National responses to the coronavirus pandemic have not been significantly more successful in these women-led countries, compared to men, a study said. Pictured is New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, praised for her handling of COVID-19
The study was conducted by political scientist Leah Windsor of the University of Memphis, Tennessee, and colleagues.
‘Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic disease, many have said that women-led countries have become better off than those led by men,’ they wrote.
For example, the success of New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in “taking the loop out” attracted initial attention and speculation about the role of leader sex in mitigating the devastating effects of the pandemic. ‘
Iceland has received a similar recommendation. Recently released scholarly studies also suggest that countries led by women have six times fewer deaths than those led by men. ‘
In their study, Professor Windsor and colleagues analyzed deaths from COVID-19 in 175 countries over the first four months after the local ‘onset’ of the pandemic.
They ran these numbers three times – first treating this ‘onset’ as the first reported case, then the first recorded death and finally when the death toll from the coronavirus had gone up. over 1 million people.
The team warned, however, that the current number of female-led countries – 16, in total – provided a limited sample for decision-making.
‘While some senior women have shown impressive control during the Covid-19 crisis, this has not translated into statistically significant differences in reducing the number of cases or deaths in their countries. , ‘the team decided.
‘While we find some support for lower mortality rates in women-led countries, they are not statistically significant.’
Rural cultural values offer a more meaningful explanation for COVID-19 results. ‘
The full results of the study were published in the journal PLOS ONE.