Twisted Logic

The Glass Cliff

One of my favourite pastimes is to go on Wikipedia to read up on people or topics. As is usually the case with me, I observe that in reading up on one thing, Wikipedia provides a link that redirects me to another. Or I scroll down and I find the ‘See also’ header that takes me down an unending rabbit hole.

What would ordinarily take me a few minutes to read up on would take me hours. I’m better off anyway because I’ve acquired knowledge I didn’t previously have.

And so it was on one such trip that I stumbled on Julia Gillard’s Wikipedia page. I had known her as the first, and only female Australian Prime Minister. I recall her being a big fan of the TV series Game of Thrones.

On June 27 2013, after only three years in office, Gilliard resigned as PM following a leadership tussle that also saw her announce her retirement from politics. While her foray into politics was short-lived, it was something in the personal life section of her page that struck me.

In a 2013 interview with The Washington Post, she said, “I think it would be inconceivable for me if I were an American to have turned up at the highest echelon of American politics being an atheist, single and childless.” Those words carry some gravitas.

Here’s her life story in summary. She was born in Wales, emigrated with her family to Australia as a child, developed an interest in law, entered politics by joining the house of representatives before securing a position as Deputy PM.

She was then elected unopposed when her principal was forced to step down, becoming Australia’s first female PM.

All these while being an ‘immigrant, an atheist, a single woman and childless.’

In learning about her, I came upon this TED talk she had alongside Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala—which I highly recommend. Gillard talks about the challenges she faced as a woman PM which plays out for many women leaders.

Her words, “The problem is we still all have sexist stereotypes whirring in the back of our brains. I was portrayed as out of touch because I don't have children. I was even compared to a barren cow in the bush, destined to be killed for hamburger mince.” 

It is always a tough ask having women leaders because they are held under stricter scrutiny than their male counterparts, sometimes to the point of ridiculousness. It’s hard enough running a country but even harder when bedeviled with red herrings that question women’s abilities on the basis of their gender or religious affiliations.

As she points out in the interview, research shows that society tends to adore men who come across as strong, ambitious, even self-seeking. If a woman expresses those same attributes, then the reactions against her can be as visceral as revulsion or contempt.

Nigerian Woman. Credits: Olayinka Raimi/UNSPLASH

I admit that even I in the past have wrongly opined that women don’t have what it takes to lead a country like Nigeria. But I have over time questioned that thinking and come to the conclusion that such ‘logic’ has no leg to stand on.

For starters, Nigeria has been led by men all through its history. The majority of the problems that our country finds itself in today were created by men.

Even when women do have positions of authority, there is an air of impermanence about it and the feeling that the patriarchy will rear its head to revert things to the status quo.

Nothing best encapsulates this than the glass cliff, the phenomenon of women leaders being more likely than men to be promoted to leadership roles during periods of crisis or downturn, when the chance of failure is highest.

While the phenomenon is broadly applied to women, it also applies to minorities as well. Here’s how Kristin J. Anderson, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Houston-Downtown explains it:

“One possible reason for putting women in positions with greater risk of failure is that women may be seen as more expendable and better scapegoats. 

“If you believe that men are natural leaders, if a company fails under a man’s leadership, you would look for explanations for the failure other than the man’s gender. 

“In contrast, if you believe that women don't really belong in positions of authority, and if a company fails under a woman's leadership, you might point to the leader's gender as the explanation . . . 

“A more cynical explanation is that organizational leadership might believe that putting women in high risk positions is a win-win strategy: If a woman succeeds after being placed in a difficult position, then the organization is better off; and if she fails, the woman can be blamed and the prior practice of appointing men can be justified and resurrected. 

“At the same time, the organization can present itself as egalitarian and progressive.” 

If it’s not yet clear let me put it succinctly: women in leadership positions are typically set up to fail. With this backdrop, how can one sincerely argue that men make better leaders than women?

Some of my favourite leaders in history are women. Off the top of my head are Queen Dido of Carthage, Germany’s Angela Merkel, America’s Hillary Clinton, and Nigeria’s Chief Olufunmilayo Ransome-Kuti who sat on a king.

This of course isn’t to say women must get the pass. There are valid counterpoints that can be made to my examples and arguments. However, I think that it is invidious to infer that women will necessarily make bad leaders when the sample size to select from is very tiny compared with men.

How does one back up that logic seeing as Nigeria has only ever had one woman governor, Virginia Etiaba, who served as Anambra’s governor from November 2006 to February 2007? We have scant empirical data to make any extrapolations from.

Those who know me from my university days know that I tend to side with female candidates who are up for departmental elections. So I submit that my bias has perhaps been there for some time. (I also typically root for the underdog which may explain my love for Arsenal).

That said, the pragmatic optimist that I am wishes that in the near future talks of a female president begin to gain serious momentum in Nigeria. By default whoever that person is has my vote.

Who knows? Maybe one of the ladies reading this might take it as a call to action and take that giant leap.

If that is you, it will behoove you to know that if that day ever comes I will be there.

For you.