By speaking up and fighting back, individually and collectively, we affirm and ensure that #MeToo is a strong and diverse movement, not simply a historical moment whose gains can be erased. From boardrooms to the music industry, from classrooms to elevators, we must challenge misogyny whenever it rears its violent head. To those who accuse us of going too far, we say: we will go as far and as long as it takes to demand respect, equality and justice! (Sharoni, 2018, p. 150) Unfortunately, too many centers of power -from legislatures to boardrooms to executive suites and management to academia -lack gender parity and women do not have equal decision-making authority. The struggle for women to break in, to rise up the ranks and to simply be heard and acknowledged in male-dominated workplaces must end; time's up on this impenetrable monopoly.
Responding to disruptions and crises are challenges public leaders face as they strive to lead responsibly for the good of the community. The last two years have been especially challenging for public leaders and institutions. In Australia, the federal government battled natural disasters (bushfires) and COVID-19 within the span of only a few months, beginning in late 2019. These events provided the opportunity for a natural experiment to explore public perceptions of leadership in times of crises, with both a natural disaster and health crisis in quick succession. In this study, we develop, validate, and test a scale of perceptions of leadership for the greater good, the Australian Leadership Index, throughout different crisis contexts. We hypothesize and find support for the drivers of perceptions of public leadership and shifts in these perceptions as a function of the bushfire disaster response, a negative shift, and the initial COVID-19 response, a positive shift. Comparisons of the crisis periods against a period of relative stability are made. We discuss the implications of differential media coverage, how the crises were managed, and the resulting public perceptions of leadership for the greater good.
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