I happened to be in Norway when the virus arrived and saw firsthand what a well-run government can actually do. One kept me safe the other nearly killed me. I know something about the difference good leadership makes because I’ve been locked down now in two different countries.

And for their ignorance and vanity, the people pay (and pay and pay). They encountered an invader that could not be bullied, bribed, banished, or bombed. Faced with the pandemic, none of these “powerful” men had a clue. What seems anachronistic in this critical time is the presence in leadership posts of so many self-aggrandizing, sociopathic male autocrats: Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, Viktor Orbán of Hungary, Vladimir Putin of Russia, Donald Trump of the United States, and more. The fortunate countries turn out to be those with the fairness and foresight to have welcomed women into government decades ago. Perhaps in such disturbing times as these, we feel some primal yearning for a capable, comforting mother, but we need not resort to such psychological speculation.

Erna Solberg has even been hailed as the “ landets mor,” the mother of her country. All of them have been commended for thorough preparations, quick decisive action, and clear, empathetic communication. Could it be by chance that seven out of eight of the most successful nations in combating the Covid-19 pandemic are headed by women? Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan, Mette Frederiksen of Denmark, Sanna Marin of Finland, Angela Merkel of Germany, Katrín Jakobsdóttir of Iceland, Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand, and Erna Solberg of Norway have all been described in similar terms: as calm, confident, and compassionate leaders. South Korea, Taiwan, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, New Zealand, and Norway have all had commendable success in protecting their people. The records of other countries make this clear.

Lockdown usa