Why America, the U.K., and Brazil didn't Handle COVID-19 Well
- Flora Galena
- Aug 25, 2020
- 3 min read
For thousands of years, white men wearing figurative and literal crowns have convinced the public that a woman is not fit to rule. Well, surprise, surprise, the dude in the curly white wigs were wrong. Now that women are finally able to lead we can finally see just how wrong they were.
Even now, in a world filled with successful female prime ministers, presidents, senators, governors, etc., misogynists with low self-esteem are constantly filling online and real world platforms with sentiments about a woman's hormones, and menstruation (or her "weak brain" and even weaker body) being dangerous to the country she's in charge of. As if a woman's menstrual blood will attract hoards of bears that will over run her country and start attacking children. Or she'll have such bad cramps that she'll lie down on the couch and say "Let the bears take care of everything for week."
Well, sorry to tell you but that hasn't happened. Despite their periods and hormones, female leaders run their countries with a sensible stature that their male counterparts don't seem to posses.
Dare I say it, women are better leaders then men. Of course there are exceptions but, overall, women seem to have a quality that does make them fit to rule. Or should I say, govern.
Let me give you the facts. In response to the recent pandemic, the U.S.(5,777,304 confirmed cases), U.K.(327,798 confirmed cases), and Brazil(3,669,995 confirmed cases), all countries led by men, downplayed the seriousness of the virus. Donald Trump discredited the World Health Organization and the CDC and insisted that COVID-19 would just go away and he would "be right eventually". Boris Johnson shook hands with coronavirus patients and boasted about it a week before being diagnosed with the virus himself. Jair Bolsonaro showcased his toxic masculinity by downplaying the virus even after he tested positive for it twice and gave it to his wife. All 3 presidents jeopardized their countries safety as well as their own for seemingly know reason but to prove their own virility.
Meanwhile, female-led countries like New Zealand(1,690 confirmed cases), Iceland(2,115 confirmed cases), and Taiwan(487 confirmed cases) shut down early and have an admirably small amount of cases.
In her presentation on "Woman as Leaders", Alice H. Eagly wrote: "The basic claims...were that female leaders, compared with male leaders, are less hierarchical, more cooperative and collaborative, and more oriented to enhancing others’ self-worth." The presentation is linked here if you want to read all of Eagly's findings.
I've never liked saying any group of people were better then any other at a certain thing. Mostly because I don't like putting people in groups and saying they are all the same. I think the world would be better if men and women (and non-binary people) worked together. For example, women are known to take less risks then men. There's a science to this but I'm pretty sure a big reason is that society has told us we can't do anything mildly helpful for centuries. In her 2013 analysis of a recent study on men and women's aversion to risk, Alexandra van Geen said "...women modify their risk-taking behavior based on whether they have financial security. Security does not seem to affect men, however winning does increase their subsequent risk-taking choices." Basically, this means that in some situations the burden society has placed upon women may actually help them(this is also the reason men tend to die 5 years earlier then women). Of course, some women are bigger risk takers then some men but this is just overall. So women tend to make sure they have security before they take big leaps which, in the case of running an entire country and having millions of people rely on you, seems better then taking big risks with nothing to fall back on. Then again, if you don't take a big risk you could lose something that otherwise would have benefited the whole country.
In conclusion, no one is "better" then anybody else but certain people have certain skills that you can't find in old white men. If we all work together equally we can strive to survive a devastating pandemic with less carnage and go on to create a better world.
Sincerely,
Flora
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