Unreasonable. Emotional. Incapable. Three words often used when describing female leadership.
For years, women have been excluded from certain positions of power because of their “apparent” and gendered weaker natures.
On the flipside, when a female is more eager or ambitious, she’s considered aggressive, bossy or even a bitch.
However, the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, proves these antiquated ideas couldn’t be further from the truth.
Olivia Heersink | Argonaut
After the Christchurch attacks — where an Australian man opened fire killing 50 people at two mosques during prayer on March 15 — Ardern displayed incredible leadership, already making strides toward complete reformation of the country’s gun laws, such as banning military-style assault rifles and ammunition.
She has also prohibited the possession or distribution of videos depicting the shootings, even those via social media since the suspected gunman, 28-year-old Brenton Tarrant, live-streamed the initial attack on Facebook.
But above all, Ardern, who even wore a hijab when visiting with those most affected, has acted with kindness and respect, not anger or vengeance — the go-to for many politicians, especially male leaders such as President Donald Trump.
In the wake of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting last October — an attack grounded in hate similar to Christchurch — Trump completely put focus on the gunman, ignoring victims. He also didn’t react to it immediately like Ardern did, but several moments later.
With all the violent incidents that have occurred during his presidency, Trump has mostly reacted the same each time. Thoughts and prayers ultimately do nothing, especially when conveyed in a 280-character Tweet.
On the other hand, when discussing the attack with the New Zealand Parliament, Ardern said, “He sought many things from his act of terror, but one was notoriety. And that is why you will never hear me mention his name. He is a terrorist. He is a criminal. He is an extremist. But he will, when I speak, be nameless. And, to others, I implore you: speak the names of those who were lost, rather than the name of the man who took them. He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing. Not even his name.”
In a New Yorker article, writer Masha Gessen said Ardern has toppled almost every expectation about the way Western countries and their leaders react to these types of violent incidents.
Gessen said Ardern’s actions are remarkable because they don’t incite more hate or terror, they unified a scared and confused nation — exactly what a leader is supposed to do.
“This is what political leaders do in the face of a senseless tragedy: they grieve with their people, they think with their people, and they act together with their people. None of those tasks requires a declaration of war,” Gessen said. “The most effective way to fight violence is to make the violence less efficient.”
Ardern has done just that through her actions and has actually made a commitment to ensure a shooting like this doesn’t happen again or at least not as easily.
It isn’t simply the United States and Trump who could learn from her example, but the world, particularly those who don’t believe women belong at the forefront.
Ardern not only leads, but she succeeds while doing it — something I can’t say for many male leaders, especially Trump.
Women deserve every right to fulfil positions of power, with Ardern being a perfect example.
But she isn’t alone — she’s joined by women such as Germany’s Angela Merkel and Denmark’s Helle Thorning-Schmidt, among many other great female leaders.
While there are men who are seemingly doing what’s best for their countries — such as Canada’s Justin Trudeau — there are still many who aren’t.
I’m not saying a person should be elected to a leadership role just on the basis of their sex, but it shouldn’t also be considered an excluding factor, like it has been in the past.
I’m also not advocating that all the world’s problems can be fixed by having a woman in power. However, by creating more equitable societies, change will happen for the betterment of all people within that grouping.
So, let’s stop with the name calling. Let’s stop leading with the negativity. Instead, let’s start by helping them to achieve their goals and offering support.
The future is truly female — why deny the inevitable?
Olivia Heersink can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @heersinkolivia