Women prime ministers and COVID‐19: Within‐case examinations of New Zealand and Iceland

Abstract

As COVID-19 cases and deaths mounted globally in the spring of 2020, the news media presented a narrative that women heads of government were more successful at handling the pandemic, sparking a scholarly debate. We take an in-depth look at two of the headline women-led cases (New Zealand and Iceland) to identify critical junctures and crucial actors in the policy-making process. Our research questions are as follows: What main factors comprised the executive decision-making process and approach to COVID-19 management in New Zealand and Iceland, and to what extent do these factors intersect with prevailing gender stereotypes of feminine leadership? We conducted elite interviews with senior politicians and civil servants in New Zealand and Iceland and found that consensus-oriented governance, honest and frequent communication with the public, agile and adaptive institutions, deference to scientific advice, collective and decisive action, and policies guided by empathy and humility have proved critical in these cases, and that many of these factors are associated with stereotypically feminine leadership traits.

Note from the Editors

“…Joseph Benveniste和Shlomo Mizrahi(2023)使用新制度主义提出了一个理论框架，用于分析政府间关系中的制度变革。他们认为，在多层次系统中，关于问责的感知差距可能会影响公职人员的策略/行为，从而决定不同类型的制度变革的时机/速度。围绕其 “问责差距” 概念的一个核心贡献聚焦于: 中央政府对提供地方服务的官方责任感知差距，以及地方层面的参与者对其政策结果责任的感知。通过聚焦于2019冠状病毒病(COVID‐19) 大流行期间几个国家的动态和制度变革，文章熟练地阐明了该框架。这使得文章能极大地引起那些寻求新概念、丰富理论见解和及时探讨的公共行政专家的兴趣，同时也引起P&P读者的兴趣，后者热衷于比较和评价地方和中央政府的大流行决策 (另见Tyner and Jalalzai 2022; Vince 2023)。…”

“…El marco se ilustra hábilmente en todo momento centrándose en la dinámica y los cambios institucionales que ocurrieron en varios países durante la pandemia de COVID‐19. Esto hace que el artículo sea de gran interés para todos los lectores de P&P deseosos de comparar y evaluar la formulación de políticas pandémicas del gobierno local y central (ver también Tyner y Jalalzai 2022; Vince 2023), así como para los especialistas en administración pública en busca de nuevos conceptos, conocimientos teóricos enriquecidos. y discusión oportuna.…”

“…The framework is skillfully illustrated throughout by focusing on the dynamics and institutional changes that occurred in several countries during the COVID‐19 pandemic. This makes the article of great interest to all P&P readers keen to compare and evaluate local and central government pandemic policy making (see also Tyner & Jalalzai, 2022; Vince, 2023) as well as to public administration specialists in search of new concepts, enriched theoretical insights, and timely discussion.…”