Obama Says Women are 'Indisputably Better' Leaders Than Men — and Old Men Should Get Out of the Way
Former President Barack Obama said Monday — not for the first time — that women were “indisputably better” as leaders than men and that many of the world’s problems come from old men “not getting out of the way.”
“Now women, I just want you to know; you are not perfect, but what I can say pretty indisputably is that you’re better than us [men],” he said.
“I’m absolutely confident,” he said, “that for two years if every nation on earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything … living standards and outcomes.”
Obama’s comments, the latest example of an argument he’s made over the years, came during an appearance this week at the Singapore Expo. (His quotes were first reported by BBC.)
The former president, 58, has been in Asia for a string of Obama Foundation events, while former First Lady Michelle Obama visited schools in Vietnam with Today co-host Jenna Bush Hager and actress Julia Roberts, promoting young women’s education.
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When Obama was asked if he’d ever consider getting back into politics, the former U.S. leader noted the importance of knowing when to step back instead of continuing to hold on.
“If you look at the world and look at the problems it’s usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way,” he said. “It is important for political leaders to try and remind themselves that you are there to do a job, but you are not there for life, you are not there in order to prop up your own sense of self importance or your own power.”
During a trip to France in 2017, Obama said “men seem to be having some problems these days” while speaking on “the importance of more focus on putting women in power.”
(In a nifty parallel, last week Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin became the youngest leader in the world at 34. She took over for ousted Prime Minister Antti Rinne.)
At a talk with his sister, Maya Soetoro-Ng, during an Obama Foundation leadership conference in Malaysia last week, President Obama said there were “still so many places where young women don’t have opportunity and their own parents don’t think they should get an education.”
He continued, “It turns out one of the best indicators of whether a country’s developed or not is: How does it educate its girls and how does it treat its women?”
