The future needs more female leaders; let's hope it happens fast | Opinion

We know that women can run most things better than men.  So women should take over and start running them.

The case for women taking over is overwhelming.  Women are "indisputably better" leaders, Barack Obama has said.  Nancy Pelosi didn’t get elected Speaker of the House (or Minority Leader) 10 straight times just because she has a nice smile.  Many have said Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany for 16 years, is one of the greatest leaders of our time. 

Women are better at running governments both large and small.  States and countries headed by women had fewer COVID-19 cases and deaths than those headed by men.  In the economic sphere, racially and ethnically diverse nations run by women have averaged 5.4% GDP growth compared with men’s 1.1%.

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Women are more committed to increasing access to affordable healthcare, reducing hunger, poverty and inequality, and tackling climate change.  Also, they don’t start wars.

That women are the superior governing sex is not news to them:

·        “If you want something said, ask a man; if you want something done, ask a woman."  -- Margaret Thatcher (1965).

·        “Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily this is not difficult.” -- Charlotte Witton, Canadian politician (1963). 

·        “I’d fire all the men and have an all-female Cabinet.” -- Former British Home Secretary Amber Rudd on what she’d do if Prime Minister.

Though better at it, women lead only 14% of the world’s governments (27 out of 195).

In the U.S. the situation for women in government is improving.  In addition to Vice-President Kamala Harris, women head 13 of the 22 Cabinet departments.  Women hold 29% more House seats and 25% more Senate seats than they did 20 years ago, and five times more state legislative seats than they did in 1971 (i.e., 32.7% more seats).

In the private sector women have farther to go.  Only 10% of U.S. Fortune 500 companies are run by women, and women lead fewer than 5% of Fortune Global 500 businesses.

It shouldn’t be that way.  When women get big jobs, they routinely outperform men.  Firms with more women in upper management make more money, research by the consulting firm McKinsey confirms.  It’s true in banks, media companies, investment firms, consulting firms, and other businesses.

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Large asset managers like Blackrock, AXA, and others have figured this out, and refuse to invest in companies that don’t have gender balance in senior management.

A Harvard Business Review study found that women outdo men in eight out of nine key leadership qualities, including motivating people, team-building, and emotional intelligence.

Many women are first-rate entrepreneurs, though various barriers have stood in their way.  Judith Faulkner grew her tiny Madison, Wis. start-up into the nation’s largest medical-records software provider, Epic Systems -- with no venture capital.  Another Wisconsinite, Diane Hendricks, did something similar in the construction materials industry (ABC Supply).

Women also surpass men in ambition.  In 2020, 16% more women than men graduated from college.

Testosterone, ego, and overconfidence help make men inferior business leaders.  Women are less reckless, more sensible, and more patient, studies show.

As journalist Adela St. Johns put it:  “God made man, and then said ‘I can do better than that,’ and made woman.”

Women haven’t taken over the business world yet, thanks in part to gender bias but also, per leanin.org founder Sheryl Sandberg, because many women drop out, underestimate their abilities, or don’t take credit for their successes.

But women are figuring these things out.  Groups like Sandberg’s and others are helping.

All that matters in business or government is women’s performance on the job, and that shows women are the best choice to run things.  Women merely getting “a seat at the table” doesn’t cut it.

Too many men have done too much damage.  Men shouldn’t be sharing power with women, they should be getting out of the way.  They won't do that voluntarily, of course.  No matter.  As Pelosi says: “Nobody’s going to give you power.  You’ve got to take it.”

So, women, please go ahead and take it.  You are overdue to run everything.

Jim Carroll is a West Palm Beach elections attorney.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Point of view: Women are better leaders, so men should stand aside