The COVID-19 crisis arrived — and women leaders got to work
Early in April the stories began to trickle out. Were countries with women in charge actually better off than those with men in the lead? As I read articles in The Atlantic and The Washington Post, and liked memes promoting the idea on social media, I began to wonder, could it be true? When I set out to research this piece, I expected to answer that question with a simple answer, but when I began looking into the figures, I found the story, and the answer, was not so simple.
As of May 5th, the country taking first place on a list no leader wants to be on: Belgium, led by Prime Minister Sophie Wilmes. With a population just slightly larger than New York City, the small country has 50,509 cases, and 8,016 deaths, according to reports collated by Johns Hopkins University. This makes it the country with the highest fatality rate per 100k at 70.
The numbers don’t look good, but they also don’t tell the full story. A leadership decision of Prime Minister Wilmes has set Belgium apart.
Instead of counting deaths that are confirmed COVID-19, Belgium has included in their count all deaths that may have been related, including every death at a nursing home. According to reporting by Reuters, half of the deaths are from nursing homes, and 96% of those deaths were suspected to be COVID-19 but not confirmed cases.
“We made the choice of full transparency when communicating deaths linked to COVID-19, [even if it resulted in] numbers that are sometimes overestimated," Wilmes told the Belgian press.
It’s too early to say which policies will have been the right ones to take, and I’m sure debate will continue about how success should be measured. But like so many things, the new coronavirus is making visible what normally is not so transparent, including the relationship between a leader, her or his decisions, leadership style, and outcomes. On top of that, we’re seeing in real time as leaders around the world react to the same crisis in very different ways. Here, women are standing out and setting new norms for leadership.
the case of Sophie Wilmes
Wilmes, the former Budget Minister of Belgium, has come into the position at an interesting time and in a unique way. When the political parties who gained a majority in the recent elections couldn’t form a coalition, Wilmes stepped into the role to lead what the country calls a “caretaker government,” becoming the first female Prime Minister of Belgium. On March 16th, she was nominated by the king to form a permanent minority government in the face of the COVID-19 crisis.
Her situation looks like what researches have called “the glass cliff,” a phenomenon that puts women in positions of power for the first time when things are already going badly, and there is a greater risk of failure. The stakes are high.
To learn more about Wilmes, I reached out to Corinna Hörst, Senior Fellow and Deputy Director at the German Marshall Fund of the United States. Hörst has studied and written about Wilmes and other female leaders in her book “Women Leading The Way in Brussels”. She explained that in Belgium, Wilmes was unknown to most of the public before becoming Prime Minister.
“Belgian politics is very difficult due to the language divisions of the country which have resulted in multi-layered, complex governance structures,” Hörst explained. “Her unassuming, diplomatic, patient and composed manners have made her a natural choice, and probably the only choice, to get Belgium through this crisis. She puts people first, consults, seeks compromises, and doesn’t play political games.”
Of the top 20 countries hit hardest by COVID-19, only two are led by women. While Belgium tops the list in terms of fatality rate, Germany maintains a spot near the bottom. Both appear to have past their peaks.
Delivering a difficult message
A week after telling her country that she expected 70 percent could contract COVID-19, German Chancellor Angela Merkel went on television to share a message. She explained the science that led to the government decisions and she took an empathetic message.
“We can’t go to work, kids can’t go to school, can’t go to the theater… We all miss the social encounters that are usually natural, we’re worried,” Merkel said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, and Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, both created direct communication to their constituents by speaking from their homes, in casual clothes, on Facebook Live.
Like Merkel, Ardern chose a message that emphasized a shared humanity and understanding of the very human sacrifices she was asking, and came across somehow as both caring without being patronizing.
“We ask you to stay away from surfaces, we ask that you stay away from playgrounds.. I know it’s so hard to stay away from playgrounds, I’m a parent who has used a lot of playgrounds around the country,” she explained.
Click here to watch more of the messages shared by female leaders around the world.
Corinne Post, Professor of Management and the Management Department Chair at Lehigh University College of Business, has studied the differences in women leaders for years. She explained to me that these are examples of relational leadership.
“Women tend to think of, and have learned to think of, themselves as interdependent,” she said.
As a result, they more often exhibit relational leadership, meaning they view the actions they take, the way they communicate, and even how they express their own emotions, by considering how it will impact others.
Hörst sees the same in Wilmes’ response and has also found this style of leadership to be more common in women.
“Based on my research or the interviews that I did for my book, here she compares well to other women leaders who bring in their perspectives based on different experiences, lives, emotions, emotional intelligence. It is something that is fundamentally different to men. But their approaches were the only thing we have been used to so far,” Hörst told me.
“It is something that is fundamentally different to men. But their approaches were the only thing we have been used to so far.”
Working together
It’s not only communication styles that are standing out among female leaders right now, it’s also the decisions behind the scenes. The way women handle crises tends to be more coordinated, Post explained. Her paper, “When is Female Leadership an Advantage? Coordination Requirements, Team Cohesion, and Team Interaction Norms,” was published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior in 2015.
“Women tend to see interdependencies and are comfortable switching on those abilities to work together, to put aside competition,” Post explained. “Where there are high needs for coordination, teams led by women perform better, are more innovative and more creative.”
One of the reasons Germany has such a low death rate compared to its neighboring countries is likely due to a broad testing approach, which took coordination between local governments, private pharmaceutical companies, and universities, according to a report by BBC.
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen cites a similar coordination — between the medical community, private sector, and citizens to track the virus spread — for her country’s successful management of the virus. Despite the virus starting in China, Taiwan has only recorded 439 cases and 6 deaths.
Some leaders have also called for more coordination across borders.
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg has been calling for multinational coordination for weeks. In early April, she set up a multi-donor fund under the UN to help developing countries deal with the crisis and donated €13.3 million. This week, Prime Minister Solberg announced a donation of $1 billion towards the global distribution of vaccines. In announcing the donation, she argued for a coordinated global effort.
“Today’s event is the start of a global movement unlike anything we have seen before. The COVID-19 pandemic is a global threat that requires a united global response. Governments, civil society, the UN and the major global health actors must cooperate to ensure effective action and equitable solutions,” she said at the press briefing.
European Commission President Ursula Von Der Leyen, is using her position to advocate for unity. Norway’s donation was part of an international pledging marathon that hopes to raise more than $8 billion.
In early April, she took to Twitter to call for European countries to support African nations in taking on the coronavirus.
On video shared on Twitter, she said: “We will only win this battle with a coordinated global response. We need to support our partners. Africa could experience the same problem that we are facing in Europe in a matter of weeks. They need our help to slow down the spread of the virus as we need help in this crisis. It is in our interest to ensure that the fight is successful worldwide. The European Union stands ready to coordinate a strong international response to the virus. We can defeat this virus by standing united and working together.”
Hörst explained that though Commissioner Von der Leyen is still finding her role and learning what it means to lead at the European helm, in style she is similar to Wilmes, “a pragmatic as well as empathetic leader.”
Pragmatism, it seems, tends to be another trait shared by women leaders.
Getting things done
Post has found women tend to act more swiftly and consistently to reduce anxiety, as well as modulate their emotions.
“We’ve seen this in how rapidly some female leaders have locked down their countries and their states, or engaged in aggressive testing,” Post said. She also pointed to Merkel, who has chosen to “suppress her emotions and embrace science.”
In the United States, while the actions taken by governors and mayors have mostly followed political lines, some have stood out. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has taken some of the most aggressive measures of any governor, banning gatherings of any kind, travel within the state, and a broader work ban than in other states — closing places like garden centers.
Speaking recently on The New York Times podcast “The Daily,” Governor Whitmer described her thought process.
“We know that we have an incredibly high death count compared to our population — 10th largest population, but the third highest number of positive cases and number of deaths. We also know that COVID-19 doesn’t recognize boundaries of a county. That this is a disease that is highly communicable. There are studies that will tell you COVID-19 can stay active and communicable for 72 hours on a stainless steel surface. And so as the weather starts to warm up here in Michigan, we know people want to head north and go to the lake.
“Let’s shut down what’s not life-sustaining activity. That was the thought process of why we went more aggressive than some other states.
“What our modeling told us, we would have 220,000 people who would need to be hospitalized this week. We have 3,000 people who are hospitalized. It’s worked. And the vast majority of people are doing their part and doing the right thing. It hasn’t been easy, but they’ve stepped up to do it. And we’ve saved lives in the process.”
For leaders like Governor Whitmer, her success is dependent on her constituents trusting and following her directions. In general, Post found, relational leaders tend to generate more trust in times of crisis.
“When you feel they have your best interest at heart, you're more likely to follow. If a leader is able to convey this, you’re going to be more trusting to do what they tell you to do, knowing it will keep you safe. Women tend to be able to elicit that trust more,” Post said.
But there is a caveat. Women are trusted more when leading through a crisis that is predictable, where the outcome is known, such as a natural disaster like a tornado or flooding. Yet, when the outcome is less known, which is the case in this pandemic, people tend to trust men more.
This brings to mind Governor Andrew Cuomo, who Post said is also exhibiting relational leadership, and has received praise for his handling of the crisis. He has the highest approval rating since he took office at 87%, according to the latest poll by Siena College.
Measuring success
History will tell us if the decisions leaders made were the right ones, in terms of the spread and impact of COVID-19. But we may find out sooner if they were good decisions politically.
What will Belgium make of their caretaker leader? Governor Whitmer has faced protests in her state, and political attacks, including from the president who called her “that woman from Michigan.” A poll published in late April by the Detroit Regional Chamber found Governor Whitmer’s approval rating in the state of Michigan was 57%.
From Post’s research, it may not matter. Her latest research studied pharmaceutical companies, “The Influence of Female Directors on Product Recall Decisions,” published in March by Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, and found that companies with more women on their boards initiate product recalls more than a month earlier than companies with fewer women on boards.
“We know at these corporate director levels, at top leadership positions, women have learned…their actions are highly scrutinized,” she said. So they are more likely to follow the rules, and they are more likely to think broadly about the impact of their decisions on consumer health and wellbeing, beyond just shareholder return.
Although she hasn’t researched it, we discussed what we could extrapolate from this research about this current situation.
“Female leaders of either party, one would expect, would want the best for everybody — for all constituents, legal residents or not, people who follow them or don’t. They might not be as concerned about getting reelected. It’s possible they might be willing to put the potential of being reelected on the line for the greater good,” she said.
In other words, there’s a difference between being a good leader and a good politician in times of crisis. These women are showing us what a leader can be.