Issue Area

Some issue areas are more commonly perceived as either masculine (e.g., security, economics) or feminine (e.g., health, environment) (Krook and O’Brien Reference Krook and O’Brien2012). When women leaders are confronted with a crisis in a traditional masculine policy realm, such as a terrorist attack, they will have a harder time creating social role congruency through crisis framing than in a policy domain that is traditionally perceived as feminine, such as a health crisis.

As noted, while men are less likely to experience social role incongruency because their fitness for leadership is automatically assumed unless proven otherwise, we expect that women leaders experience social role incongruency when confronted with a crisis that is framed in masculine terms. For example, Brazil’s economic crisis triggered Dilma Rousseff’s presidential impeachment in 2016. This crisis was a consequence of falling commodity prices and questionable polices that had begun under her predecessor, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, but continued during her administration. Yet most people only blamed Rousseff for the country’s recession, which was in progress when she came into office (though it certainly intensified during her tenure). In contrast, in 2020, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, like other women leaders worldwide, was hailed for her leadership during the COVID-19 health crisis. This crisis occurred in a feminized area and posed threats to the lives of countries’ weakest citizens—the elderly and infirm, for whom women are routinely expected to provide care.

Crisis Nature

When the appropriate policy response to a crisis appears clear, rapid and decisive leadership can be justified. Likewise, when a crisis leaves little time for deliberation and consultation, leaders are prompted to make unilateral decisions. Both scenarios benefit male leaders, as decisiveness is traditionally considered a male trait. In contrast, when a crisis is portrayed as a novel threat or ambiguity about the appropriate course of action is highlighted, there might be more opportunity for deliberation and consensus seeking. This process can make traditionally feminine traits such as caring, collaboration, and empathy salient, thus creating gender role congruency. Therefore, whenever a crisis is less urgent and allows for more deliberation and negotiation before making decisions, it more closely resonates with stereotypical feminine leadership traits of collaboration and consensus seeking.

For example, Brazil had often faced economic crises. Several previous presidents, including Lula (as well as governors and mayors), had developed a (questionable) budgetary procedure of borrowing money from state banks to fund national social programs. As president, Rousseff also used this procedure. When critics became aware that Rousseff unilaterally decided to engage in fiscal maneuvering that exacerbated the crisis, and that she did so over objections made by some of her party’s members, questions regarding her intelligence and overall leadership style surfaced. Both the issue area of the crisis (the economy) and Rousseff’s leadership style (unilateral, unambiguous) created a gender role incongruency that likely exacerbated the fallout Rousseff experienced. It is worth noting, however, that two days after Rousseff was officially removed from power, Brazil’s Senate legalized the very same fiscal move for which Rousseff was impeached, casting doubts that her impeachment and removal were truly motivated by efforts to protect Brazilian democracy, but rather steeped in and partially motivated by sexism.

In contrast, for women leaders, the COVID-19 pandemic created greater social role congruency. Because the crisis featured a previously unknown virus, ambiguity was high and national leaders were required to collaborate with scientists and health professionals to determine an appropriate response, stressing stereotypical feminine traits such as collaboration and caring. This gender role congruency allowed women leaders to emerge from the pandemic as admired and highly praised crisis managers, with New Zealand prime minister Ardern a case in point (Piscopo and Och 2021). She hosted regular “Conversations through COVID” on Facebook and Instagram Live, during which she invited experts to discuss issues such as mental health and to answer questions about the pandemic (Tworek, Beacock, and Ojo Reference Tworek, Beacock and Ojo2020).

Communication Style

Leaders navigate the types of communication styles to employ in a given situation. However, when women leaders decide on their communication strategy, they must be more aware of social gender expectations and how their communication style will be perceived. Direction-giving language is agentic, consistent with masculine social roles. When men leaders provide this kind of direction, they are viewed as acting in accordance with prevailing gender norms and, in turn, likely to be perceived as effective leaders. Conversely, when women leaders employ direction-giving language, they are acting at odds with social expectations of feminine behavior. Individuals deviating from prevailing gender norms are evaluated less favorably, making it more difficult for women leaders to maneuver without provoking negative reactions on the part of constituents.

Empathetic language, the second element of successful crisis management, is more consistent with feminine norms and women leaders are socially rewarded for employing this type of rhetoric. Likewise, when men fail to express empathy, it is not considered a flaw and if they do express empathy, it often is positively received.

The third type of crisis leadership, the use of meaning-making language, is less clearly connected to prevailing gender stereotypes. National contexts offer multiple norms and values upon which heads of state and government can draw when trying to create meaningful narratives about the appropriate response to crisis. Here, both men and women leaders enjoy the freedom to select language that is consistent with social role expectations.

In the case of Brazil, political elites, including members of Rousseff’s own disintegrating government coalition, repeatedly attacked Rousseff and accused her of being overly aggressive and harsh when she addressed the public and political elites using direction-giving language. Another common accusation was that she opted to escalate conflict rather than seek compromise or consensus (dos Santos and Jalalzai Reference dos Santos and Jalalzai2021). Rousseff unliterally implemented an aggressive fiscal adjustment and refused to admit any wrongdoing or mistakes. Her actions created a significant social role incongruency, since bullish and decisive communication and a unilateral decision-making style are most commonly associated with masculine traits.

In contrast, empathetic language was required to assuage the mental health crisis accompanying the global COVID-19 lockdown, creating gender role congruency for women leaders. Ardern’s leadership style was dubbed a “politics of kindness” and centered on a message of coming together, referring to New Zealand as “our team of five million” (Piscopo and Och Reference Piscopo and Och2021). Her ability to humanize the challenges of the pandemic endeared her to many Kiwis. The same social role congruency held for other women leaders, such as German chancellor Angela Merkel and Norwegian prime minister Erna Solberg, who also benefited from the public’s need to be reassured. Merkel was praised for her ability to express empathy and recognize the hardships imposed by the crisis, while Solberg’s direct communication with children about the pandemic generated much admiration at home and abroad (Davidson-Schmich Reference Davidson-Schmich2020; Piscopo and Och Reference Piscopo and Och2021).