Collaborative | Attuned | Resilient | Empathetic (CARE): Women Leaders Take Charge of Pandemic Response

“Many of the countries that have forged a successful response to COVID-19 are led by women. So the question is posed: Is this a coincidence, or are there common characteristics of women leaders that equipped them with the capabilities needed during such crisis situations?”

This was how Bi-khim Hsiao, Chairperson of the Council of Asian Liberals and Democrats (CALD), framed the discussion in the #FemaleForward webinar organized by the Friedrich Naumann Foundation for Freedom (FNF), in close cooperation with CALD, last 29 May 2020.

The responses of the webinar speakers were unequivocal: There are indeed common characteristics of women leaders that make them effective in pandemic response. These traits can be aptly summarized by the acronym, C.A.R.E. – collaborative, attuned, resilient and empathetic.

In her keynote address, Philippine Vice President Leni Robredo related how her office — the Office of the Vice President — had made much of the little resources and manpower it has through collaboration with civil society. She said: “Working with the private sector was crucial. Volunteers from everywhere formed the cornerstone of our success, and constant daily feedback paved the way for improvement.”

Listening to the feedback of the people on the ground was one of the reasons why the Office of the Vice President was able to effectively provide free shuttle services to medical workers immediately after the shutdown of public transportation was declared. “Our mantra, as always: Find the gaps and fill them”, said Vice President Robredo. “(Women leaders) are more attuned with how the public feels… so we are able to respond as swiftly as possible.”

Resiliency is another characteristic which is urgently needed in the time of the pandemic. Fortunately, Southeast and East Asian women are resilient. FNF Deputy Chair of the Executive Board, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, observed: “The region is prone to natural disasters where women are also the most vulnerable. But you endured and have always come up stronger.”

The strength of women also rests on their ability to empathize, which Ketty Chen, Vice President of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy (TFD) also noted in her intervention: “It is the quality of female leaders, and also their way of dealing with multi-faceted culture and society even before the pandemic, that allow them to be more empathetic — their good abilities to collaborate, negotiate and discuss strategies and technologies to deal with this pandemic.”

While COVID-19 highlighted the abilities of caring women leaders, all the speakers also tackled how the pandemic impacted negatively on efforts to advance women’s rights and gender equality. This was most evident in the presentations of Felippa Ananta of Center for Indonesian Policy Studies (CIPS) and Jayanthi Balaguru of the International Network of Liberal Women (INLW) and the CALD Women Caucus. Citing both global and national data, Ananta discussed how the lockdowns resulted in massive unemployment and its intertwined issues of unpaid care work in the household and domestic violence.

Domestic violence was the emphasis of Balaguru’s intervention, noting in particular what UN Women termed as the “shadow pandemic” of growing violence against women. She also lamented how “…this lockdown has actually shown us what kind of pattern women are put in and are expected out of the stereotyped cultural values or traditional values. (They are made) to actually face it as if they have no right for anything else, but it is like their destiny or their fate.”

The webinar, which was moderated by Arpee Santiago of the Working Group for ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism, ended with a conclusion that the silver lining in COVID-19 is the opportunity it affords not only to put a spotlight on effective women leaders, but also on the work that still needs to be done to advance women’s rights and gender equality.