The COVID-19 pandemic is arguably the most pressing international security issue of our time, prompting states worldwide to enter into lockdown, increase policing in communities and tighten border controls. In this context, it is crucial to examine the unique experiences of different women across the globe and how the COVID-19 crisis and its overlapping health, political, socioeconomic and cultural dimensions affect them.
Considered and contextualised analysis of women’s experiences can help shape effective human security policies, which UN General Assembly resolution 66/290 defines as “people-centred, comprehensive, context-specific and prevention-oriented responses that strengthen the protection and empowerment of all people and all communities”.(1) As such, it’s positive to see the media increasingly highlighting women’s experiences of COVID-19, from across diverse domestic and professional contexts. Female political leadership, in particular, has gained special media attention during the pandemic. From the New York Times(2) and the Guardian,(3) to Die Zeit(4) and El País,(5) female world leaders have been celebrated for their remarkable, even radical, responses to COVID-19.
But I am troubled by the tone or, to be more precise, the gendering of this coverage. What do they mean by female leadership? Who are these so-called ‘Women Leaders’? And do they really offer such a radical approach to national security during the pandemic? In this blog, I argue that we should be more robust in our analysis of female heads of state, their policies and the often essentialising discourses that celebrate them - but silence other, more marginalised, groups of all genders. Reflecting on these critiques, I conclude with some recommendations for individuals, media professionals and the policy community to amplify media and policy discourses which centre the experiences, needs and rights of all women and girls worldwide.
What is ‘Feminine’ Leadership?
These articles fundamentally argue two things: firstly, female leaders have been more effective in reducing the security threat of COVID-19, and secondly, that this is due to a unique, female approach. Though there is variation, journalists usually cite the success of New Zealand, Taiwan, Denmark, Germany, Finland, Hong Kong and Norway. But to what extent is the success of these leaders because of their gender?
COVID-19 rates are indeed lower in some countries led by women. At the time of writing, New Zealand has reported 22 deaths from COVID-19(6) and the death toll in Hong Kong is even lower,(7) despite their relative proximity to Wuhan where the virus was initially identified. The story seems more complex in Germany, for example, which has reported almost as many cases as neighbouring, male-led France; although Germany has reported half as many deaths and has a larger overall population.(8)
It is a significant leap, however, to suggest that this success is partly or solely due to ‘feminine’ leadership. This claim has sexist undertones, even if it superficially champions gender equality. A recent article in Forbes Magazine, for example, notes that female leaders have been more successful, as they are more loving:
“Generally, the empathy and care which all of these female leaders have communicated seems to come from an alternate universe than the one we have gotten used to. It’s like their arms are coming out of their videos to hold you close in a heart-felt and loving embrace.”(9)
By emphasising their caring nature, female leaders are pigeonholed into Western archetypes of women as motherly and sensitive. In the quote above, an empathetic, feminine leadership is juxtaposed against the implicitly unemotional, male-dominated political world that “we have gotten used to”.(10) This heteronormative binary of motherly women vs. political men is harmfully restrictive for both women and men alike. It dismisses the personal preferences, needs and aspirations of individuals and prescribes set patterns of behaviour on the basis of a narrow understanding of only two genders: female and male.
In drawing a neat binary comparison between female leaders and their (apparently more authoritative) male counterparts, the discourse also erases centuries-old communities and cultures across the world that celebrate queer and non-binary identities that are neither female or male. This not only dismisses people’s identities, but also endangers already marginalised groups by overlooking their needs or potential to lead communities, thus excluding them as possible beneficiaries or co-architects of state security measures.(11)
Complex Realities, Simplistic Narratives
My objection goes further still. Closer analysis shows that the security policies of female leaders are far more complex than their empathetic, feminine caricatures.
The German government, under Angela Merkel, recently announced that they would stop accepting refugees from all countries.(12) This was justified as a security measure to protect German citizens and residents from COVID-19. But, in doing so, the German government effectively disregard the security of the refugees they had previously committed to protecting, including thousands of women and children,(13) currently in Greece, Turkey and beyond.(14)
Meanwhile, Jacinda Ardern’s COVID-19 policies have been criticised for failing to protect the 16.5% of the New Zealand population that identify as Māori. Indigenous people are 2.5 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than Pākehā, New Zealanders of European heritage.(15) Yet only NZ$52.6 million,(16) less than 0.005% of Ardern’s NZ$12.1 billion stimulus package,(17) has been allocated to safeguarding Māori communities - a significant, and dangerous, oversight in national security planning.
The Chief Executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, has also faced criticism for her support of the recent security law imposed by the Beijing Government, which criminalises any act of “secession”, “subversion” and “collusion” with foreign agents.(18) This move is seen by many as the latest evidence of her government’s often violent repression of political activists and the institutions that support them, often under the guise of maintaining COVID-19 lockdown.(19)
These policies are a far cry from the UN’s inclusive, empowering and egalitarian vision of human security, where the needs and rights of individuals are upheld, and much closer to the male-dominated vision of global politics, where the security of the nation state is upheld. But should we even compare these three female leaders? In a sense, no. These three examples are from three very different governments —Merkel’s right-wing Christian Democratic/Social Union, Ardern’s left-wing Labour Party-led coalition, and Lam’s Beijing-backed Executive Council — so are bound to show different responses to COVID-19. Yet this is the same logic which mainstream journalism uses when they praise these three leaders for their responses to the pandemic. It suggests that, because of an assumed shared female identity, all ‘Women Leaders’ are similarly effective - without nuanced reflection on their politics.
Are ‘Women Leaders’ the Leaders of All Women?
This notion of shared female identity presents perhaps the most fundamental issue with current discourse around ‘Women Leaders’: it implies that all women share the same experiences, views and priorities.
As post/de/anti-colonial and Black feminists have shown for centuries, this is a harmful simplification of gender. Intersectional feminism argues that our experiences of gender, racial, class and many other identities are inexorably interconnected.(20) Gender injustice cannot be isolated from other injustices, just as our gender identities are continually shaped by the other parts of our identities. As Black feminist lawyer Kimberlé Crenshaw warns, to ignore racial, class and other factors in gender discrimination ignores the needs of the most marginalised members of our society and exposes them to further violence.(21)
Even the phrase ‘Women Leaders’ lumps all women into one uniform mass, conflating people of myriad ethnicities, classes, nationalities and abilities - despite the fact that most female heads of state represent elite, often white, middle-class and non-disabled sectors of society. Moreover, as the previous examples indicate, women will not automatically implement policies to protect women or any other marginalised group. Some studies actually show the opposite: women working in security or political environments may adopt more aggressive and stereotypically masculine behaviours in order to fit into the hyper-masculine political and/or military environments where they work.(22)
The phrase also suggests that women in leadership are remarkable because they are unusual, qualifying them primarily by their gender instead of their politics. Consider, by contrast, the phrase ‘Men Leaders’. It sounds jarring and unnecessary because, in our current world, it is. Most state leaders and security advisors are men,(23) which means most security dialogues exclude women and their experiences; only 40% of all peace agreements from 2016, for example, included a single reference to women.(24) This isn’t a coincidence. Feminist IR scholar, Annick Wibben, argues political narratives are key in perpetuating patriarchal systems, framing them as necessary, inevitable and unquestionable.(25) By using this language ourselves, we also promote the notion that women are not default leaders.
Recommendations
We need more considered discussion of female leaders and their responses to COVID-19. Below are some initial ideas on what this might look like:
Individuals
Those of us who have racial privilege, socioeconomic privilege and/or privilege in another part of our lives, must use it to:
Call on our governments to defend the rights of all women and girls, now and after COVID-19
Expose and call out journalism which inaccurately depicts government policies, especially when these depictions overlook human rights abuses, exclusionary policies and gender-based violence
Media Professionals
Reject gendered simplifications and report more fully on the diverse ideologies, policies and histories of female politicians
Amplify voices that are marginalised in traditional media narratives, especially those of Black and brown, migrant, queer and working-class women
The Policy Community
Incorporate the experiences of women and children, especially the most marginalised, into the design of policies and budgets in response to COVID-19
Encourage government and security officials to engage meaningfully with gender justice groups throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond
Sarah Dickins
Sarah has worked with youth and gender justice projects in Europe, East Africa and Latin America since 2015. She holds an MA in Gender, Violence and Conflict from the University of Sussex and now works for the girls' rights INGO Plan International.
Sarah is passionate about intersectional feminist justice and developing strategic tools for change. She recently co-created the first Kenyan app for tracking gender violence on public transport with the women's organisation Flone Initiative and is co-editor of the gender justice initiative Defying Gender Roles. Feedback and further discussion on this blog is always welcome; you can follow or message her on Twitter.
Follow Sarah on Twitter: @srhdckns
References
(1) United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly Resolution 66/290, 2012, last accessed: 13/07/2020, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/476/22/PDF/N1147622.pdf?OpenElement
(2) Amanda Taub, “Why Are Women-Led Nations Doing Better With Covid-19?”, New York Times, May 15, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/world/coronavirus-women-leaders.html
(3) Jon Henley and Eleanor Ainge Roy, “Are female leaders more successful at managing the coronavirus crisis?”, The Guardian, April 25, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/25/why-do-female-leaders-seem-to-be-more-successful-at-managing-the-coronavirus-crisis
(4) Elisabeth von Thadden, “Reagieren weiblich geführte Staaten besser auf die Pandemie?”, Die Zeit, April 18, 2020, https://www.zeit.de/kultur/2020-04/corona-pandemie-frauen-lockdown-soziologin-eva-illouz
(5) Marta Fraile, “Coronavirus: El Buen Hacer de las mujeres líderes”, El Mundo, 11 May 2020, https://elpais.com/opinion/2020-05-11/el-buen-hacer-de-las-mujeres-lideres.html
(6) “Mortality Analyses”, Covid19 Mortality Analyses, John Hopkins University, last accessed: July 7, 2020, https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality
(7) “Latest Situation of Novel Coronavirus Infection in Hong Kong”, Data Analysis Dashboard of Covid19 in Hong Kong, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, last accessed: July 7, 2020, https://chp-dashboard.geodata.gov.hk/covid-19/en.html
(8) “Mortality Analyses”, Covid19 Mortality Analyses, John Hopkins University, last accessed: July 7, 2020, https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality
(9) Avivah Wittenberg-Cox, “What Do Countries With The Best Coronavirus Responses Have In Common? Women Leaders”, Forbes Magazine, April 13, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2020/04/13/what-do-countries-with-the-best-coronavirus-reponses-have-in-common-women-leaders/#4a453d4c3dec
(10) Laura Sjoberg and Caron E. Gentry, Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Women’s Violence in Global Politics (London: Zed Books, 2007)
(11) Julia Richardson, “Not seen and not heard: the security dilemma of in/visibility”, Critical Studies on Security. 5, no. 1 (2017) p. 118.
(12) Deutsche Welle, “Germany stops accepting refugees over coronavirus”, Deutsche Welle, March 18, 2020, https://www.dw.com/en/germany-stops-accepting-refugees-over-coronavirus/a-52826716
(13) Human Rights Watch, “Greece: Island Camps Not Prepared for Covid-19”, Human Rights Watch, April 11, 2020, https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/04/22/greece-island-camps-not-prepared-covid-19
(14) Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants and UNHCR, Turkey: ASAM - Sectoral Analysis of the Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Refugees Living in Turkey, (Turkey: Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants and UNHCR, 2020)
(15) Nicholas Steyn et al., Estimated inequities in COVID-19 infection fatality rates by ethnicity for Aotearoa New Zealand, (Auckland, NZ: Te Pūnaha Matatini and University of Auckland, 2020). https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.auckland.ac.nz/dist/d/75/files/2020/04/Estimated-ifrs_draft12.ACTUALFINAL.pdf
(16) Scott Harrison and Yiwei Jin, “A Plan for All Won’t Work for All: COVID-19 and Māori in New Zealand”, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, April 30, 2020, https://www.asiapacific.ca/publication/plan-all-wont-work-all-covid-19-and-maori-new-zealand
(17) Charlotte Graham-McLay, “New Zealand launches massive spending package to combat Covid-19”, The Guardian, March 17, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/17/new-zealand-launches-massive-spending-package-to-combat-covid-19
(18) BBC News, “Hong Kong security law: What is it and why is it worrying?”, BBC News, June 30, 2020, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52765838
(19) Mary Hui, “Hong Kong police are using coronavirus restrictions to clamp down on protesters”, QZ, April 1, 2020, https://qz.com/1829892/hong-kong-police-use-coronavirus-rules-to-limit-protests/
(20) Nira Yuval-Davis, “Intersectionality and Feminist Politics”, European Journal of Women’s Studies. 13, no. 3 (2006): 193-209.
(21) Kimberlé Crenshaw, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color”, Stanford Law Review, 43, no. 6 (1991) p. 1246
(22) See, for example, Kathleen Jennings, “Women’s Participation in UN Peace Operations Agents of Change or Stranded Symbols?”, in Beyond “Gender and Stir”: Reflections on gender and SSR in the aftermath of African conflicts, Maria Baaz Eriksson and Mats Utas, (Upsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2012), pp. 18-30
(23)UN Women, In Brief: Women and Security, (New York: UN Women, 2013) https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2013/12/un%20women%20briefthematicpsuswebrev3%20pdf.pdf?la=en
(24) “Participation”, Women’s Participation in Peace Processes, UN Women, last accessed: July 7, 2020 https://wps.unwomen.org/participation/
(25)Annick Wibben, Feminist Security Studies: A narrative approach, (London: Routledge, 2020), p. 108
References
Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants and UNHCR, Turkey: ASAM - Sectoral Analysis of the Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Refugees Living in Turkey, (Turkey: Association for Solidarity with Asylum Seekers and Migrants and UNHCR, 2020)
BBC News, “Hong Kong security law: What is it and why is it worrying?”, BBC News, June 30, 2020, https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-52765838
Deutsche Welle, “Germany stops accepting refugees over coronavirus”, Deutsche Welle, March 18, 2020, https://www.dw.com/en/germany-stops-accepting-refugees-over-coronavirus/a-52826716
Fraile, Marta. “Coronavirus: El Buen Hacer de las mujeres líderes”, El Mundo, 11 May 2020, https://elpais.com/opinion/2020-05-11/el-buen-hacer-de-las-mujeres-lideres.html
Graham-McLay, Charlotte. “New Zealand launches massive spending package to combat Covid-19”, The Guardian, March 17, 2020,
Crenshaw, Kimberlé. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color”, Stanford Law Review, 43, no. 6 (1991), pp. 1241-1299
Harrison, Scott and Jin, Yiwei. “A Plan for All Won’t Work for All: COVID-19 and Māori in New Zealand”, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, April 30, 2020, https://www.asiapacific.ca/publication/plan-all-wont-work-all-covid-19-and-maori-new-zealand
Henley, Jon and Ainge Roy, Eleanor. “Are female leaders more successful at managing the coronavirus crisis?”, The Guardian, April 25, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/apr/25/why-do-female-leaders-seem-to-be-more-successful-at-managing-the-coronavirus-crisis
Hui, Mary. “Hong Kong police are using coronavirus restrictions to clamp down on protesters”, QZ, April 1, 2020, https://qz.com/1829892/hong-kong-police-use-coronavirus-rules-to-limit-protests/
Jennings, Kathleen. “Women’s Participation in UN Peace Operations Agents of Change or Stranded Symbols?”, in Beyond “Gender and Stir”: Reflections on gender and SSR in the aftermath of African conflicts, Maria Baaz Eriksson and Mats Utas, (Upsala: Nordiska Afrikainstitutet, 2012), pp. 18-30
“Latest Situation of Novel Coronavirus Infection in Hong Kong”, Data Analysis Dashboard of Covid19 in Hong Kong, Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, last accessed: July 7, 2020, https://chp-dashboard.geodata.gov.hk/covid-19/en.html
“Mortality Analyses”, Covid19 Mortality Analyses, John Hopkins University, last accessed: July 7, 2020, https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/data/mortality
“Participation”, Women’s Participation in Peace Processes, UN Women, last accessed: July 7, 2020 https://wps.unwomen.org/participation/
Richardson, Julia. “Not seen and not heard: the security dilemma of in/visibility”, Critical Studies on Security. 5, no. 1 (2017) pp. 117-120
Sjoberg, Laura. and Gentry, Caron E. Mothers, Monsters, Whores: Women’s Violence in Global Politics (London: Zed Books, 2007)
Steyn, Nicholas. et al., Estimated inequities in COVID-19 infection fatality rates
by ethnicity for Aotearoa New Zealand, (Auckland, NZ: Te Pūnaha Matatini and University of Auckland, 2020). https://cpb-ap-se2.wpmucdn.com/blogs.auckland.ac.nz/dist/d/75/files/2020/04/Estimated-ifrs_draft12.ACTUALFINAL.pdf
Taub, Amanda. “Why Are Women-Led Nations Doing Better With Covid-19?”, New York Times, May 15, 2020, https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/15/world/coronavirus-women-leaders.html
Thadden, Elisabeth von. “Reagieren weiblich geführte Staaten besser auf die Pandemie?”, Die Zeit, April 18, https://www.zeit.de/kultur/2020-04/corona-pandemie-frauen-lockdown-soziologin-eva-illouz
United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly Resolution 66/290, 2012, last accessed: 13/07/2020, https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N11/476/22/PDF/N1147622.pdf?OpenElement
UN Women, In Brief: Women and Security, (New York: UN Women, 2013) https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2013/12/un%20women%20briefthematicpsuswebrev3%20pdf.pdf?la=en
Wibben, Annick. Feminist Security Studies: A narrative approach, (London: Routledge, 2020)
Wittenberg-Cox, Avivah. “What Do Countries With The Best Coronavirus Responses Have In Common? Women Leaders”, Forbes Magazine, April 13, 2020, https://www.forbes.com/sites/avivahwittenbergcox/2020/04/13/what-do-countries-with-the-best-coronavirus-reponses-have-in-common-women-leaders/#4a453d4c3dec
Yuval-Davis, Nira. “Intersectionality and Feminist Politics”, European Journal of Women’s Studies. 13, no. 3 (2006): 193-209.
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