Female-Led Countries Had Fewer COVID-19 Cases, Deaths: Study

Leadership played a big role in how countries fared amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The ones with female leaders actually had fewer COVID-19 deaths compared to countries governed by men, a study has found.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the lives of people all over the globe. It has affected "almost all" countries, causing losses in "life, health and economic output," the authors of the study, published in Scientific Reports, noted.

However, it did not affect all the countries in the same way. New Zealand and Australia, for instance, faced different realities despite having "similar economic and political environments," according to the researchers. Even though Australia's population is only about five times larger than that of New Zealand, its cases as of December 2020 were 13 times more than New Zealand's, and its deaths 36 times higher.

For their study, the researchers looked at 21 predetermined "country-level" factors that may have contributed to the differences in the COVID-19 morbidity and mortality outcomes of 91 countries from January to December 2020.

They found that factors such as population density, urbanization, gender ratio and political corruption aggravated the severity of the countries' COVID-19 experience, the University of Queensland (UQ) noted in a news release.

On the other hand, female leadership, education, religious diversity, the strength of the legal systems and trust in the government reduced infections and deaths. In fact, the countries with female leaders had a whopping 39.9% fewer confirmed COVID-19 deaths compared to male-led countries, one of the study authors, Kelvin Tan of UQ Business School, said.

"This figure can be attributed to female leaders taking quick and decisive action, a broader view of the wider impact on society and being more receptive to innovative thinking," Tan said. "We found female leaders tend to act promptly and decisively and are more risk-averse towards the loss of human life, which play an essential role in pandemic prevention and outcomes."

Since the pandemic affected some developed countries more than developing countries, this shows how "economic power" doesn't necessarily equate to "immunity to a health crisis," the researchers said. More than a nation's financial resources, it's the "timeliness and effectiveness of interventions" that end up determining how successful a country is in its pandemic controls.

"It is unrealistic to expect all countries to choose female leaders," the researchers wrote. "However, perhaps male leaders could learn from their female counterparts and pay more attention to issues that matter to the health of the broader population and society."