What has COVID-19 shown us about women and leadership?

Happy Women’s Day. Is it? Hi I’m Simon Dippenaar.
August 9th was Women’s Day, a day that commemorates, as everyone knows, the historic march on the Union Buildings in 1956 by 20,000 women. They were protesting against the discriminatory pass laws of the day. Women’s Day is meant to celebrate the power of this act and the role women played in the Struggle.
But here we are in 2020 and Women’s Day has degenerated to a mealy-mouthed reinforcement of stereotypical female roles. But what do women in South Africa have to celebrate? The fact that, according to some reports, 40% of South African women will be raped at some time in their life? Or the fact that women, on average, earn 25% less than men? Or that fact that unemployment among women is considerably higher than among men? Or the fact that gender representation is still below the 50% mark for positions that come with influence?
In my view, Women’s Day should be a somber and solemn reflection on just how far we still have to go to achieve gender equality in South Africa. On why our women die at the hands of their intimate partners. On why women are at the bottom of every economic table going. On what all of us can do to make our society fairer and safer for women…and therefore for everyone.
Gender-based violence has been described as “the other pandemic” we are living through. As I was thinking about all of this, I found myself reflecting on leadership, and women in leadership, in a time of COVID-19. Not all men are bad leaders, but I couldn’t help but observe that the worst cases of incompetent leadership involve men…Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Jair Bolsanaro. By contrast, some of the best-handled countries are led by women…New Zealand, Germany, Scotland (where the devolved government under Nicola Sturgeon handled the response to the pandemic, not Boris Johnson).
Historically, the only way for a woman to make it in a male-dominated political environment was to act like a man. Modern women in power are more likely to succeed by channelling their soft skills. Many of the behaviours that make exceptional leaders are more typical of women than men. According to a recent article in the Harvard Business Review, “…gender differences in leadership effectiveness (what it takes to perform well) are out of sync with gender differences in leadership emergence (what it takes to make it to the top).” The authors say there are a number of leadership lessons men can learn from the average woman.
Women know their limitations. This does not mean women lack self-belief; but it means they avoid the trap of over-confidence. Women are better at putting the team first. Men’s leadership style is often narcissistic and self-centred. Women are more empathetic, and make a stronger emotional connection with their followers. Is this why New Zealanders were willing to endure a very hard lockdown when the virus had barely touched their shores? Ardern had connected with them emotionally? Probably.
Female leaders are more likely to be humble than their male counterparts, as humility is intrinsically a feminine trait. Humility enables leaders to acknowledge mistakes, learn from experience, take others’ views into account, and be willing to change. It’s hard to imagine Donald Trump ever doing any of this.
The Minister for Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, in launching Women’s Month 2020, called on South Africans to “Be a part of the generation that ends gender inequality”. This is a noble platitude, but it is vague. It doesn’t tell me what actions I need to take or behaviours I need to exhibit to make this happen.
But I think there are lessons to be learned from COVID-19 about gender equality in leadership. When the history books are written about 2020, there will be very clear winners and losers. And most of the winners have women leaders. Men need to learn different leadership approaches from women. Women should not borrow their leadership tactics from men.
True gender equality will only come about when we dispose of stereotypes and acknowledge gender differences for what they can teach us. Only then can we be the generation that ends gender inequality.