BLUF

This article asserts that countries where egalitarianism is valued; were better able to manage the Covid pandemic than countries that valued individualism.

Summary

Author Leah Cathryn Windsor discusses her research into the relationship between gender and COVID-19 management. She dispels the assertion made by some authors that female leaders are better at handling the pandemic and says there isn’t enough evidence to prove that gender is solely responsible for the good management of COVID-19. Instead, Windsor’s research shows that a nation’s culture is more important in surviving the pandemic than gender. In particular, she found that egalitarian countries have done much better than societies that value individualism and ‘power distance’—a measure of power disparities among a nation’s citizens. Windsor refers to the USA, where individualism and ‘power distance’ are extremely high to explain why deaths from COVID-19 are so high in the USA. Conversely, people in egalitarian countries such as Australia and New Zealand have fared comparatively well because citizens there are more likely to comply with health directives for the greater good

Learn more about the importance of culture in managing a pandemic

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