Obama Says Governments Would Be 'Better' if Women Ran Them: 'I'm confident about that'

Barack Obama has said the governments around the world would be 'better' if women were put in charge for two years, reviving a view he has previously expressed about female political leadership.

The former US president made the remarks during a wide-ranging conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin at Salem State University in Massachusetts on Monday, 21 September.

The sold-out event drew 3,600 people to the university's O'Keefe Sports Complex, with hundreds more watching from a satellite venue on campus.

'Even when I was president, I sometimes fantasised about, if you put women in charge of every government for like two years and then just kind of saw, all right, how are things going?' Obama said.

'I have a strong belief that things would — they wouldn't be perfect,' he added. 'But they'd be better!' Goodwin interjected. 'But they'd be better. I'm confident about that. I really do,' Obama replied.

Obama Made Similar Argument Before

The comments were not the first time Obama has suggested that countries would benefit from having more women in positions of power.

Speaking at a leadership event in Singapore in December 2019, Obama argued that if women ran every country for two years, living standards and other outcomes would improve. He also criticised older political leaders who were reluctant to step aside for a younger generation.

His latest remarks came during a broader discussion about leadership, political divisions and the importance of creating opportunities for younger voices. Obama told the Salem audience that American society was not as divided at the community level as national politics and media coverage sometimes suggested.

'We aren't as divided as we seem at the ground level,' he said. He also said that progress on women's rights, civil rights and LGBTQ rights had not been reversed and that, in most places, the 'vast majority' of people continued to support those advances.

Women's Issues Were Part of Obama White House Agenda

Women's rights and representation were also recurring policy themes during Obama's two terms in office from 2009 to 2017.

The first bill he signed as president was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which made it easier for workers to challenge discriminatory pay by resetting the filing period with each affected paycheck.

In March 2009, Obama also created the White House Council on Women and Girls through an executive order.

The body was charged with coordinating federal policies affecting women and girls and ensuring government agencies considered their needs when developing programmes, policies and legislative proposals.

His administration also backed measures to address workplace equality, violence against women, and access to healthcare.

Obama Calls for a New Generation of Leaders

Obama's comments about women formed part of a wider argument that political institutions need higher generational turnover. At the end of the Salem State discussion, he suggested organisers should invite former First Lady Michelle Obama to speak in the future, joking that 'she's better than I am'.

He then stressed the importance of giving younger people greater visibility and influence. 'I'm very big right now on getting folks who are younger than me,' Obama said, adding that providing platforms for 'younger voices' was increasingly important.

Obama framed the idea of two years of female-led governments as a hypothetical rather than a policy proposal. While he conceded that women would not govern perfectly, he repeatedly said he believed the results would be better.