‘Things would be better’ — Obama backs women leading governments

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Former United States President Barack Obama has said governments around the world would perform better if women were given the opportunity to lead for two years.

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Obama made the remark during a conversation with historian Doris Kearns Goodwin at Salem State University in Massachusetts on Monday.

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The former president was discussing leadership and the importance of creating opportunities for younger generations when he recalled a thought he had while serving in the White House.

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“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.

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“I have a strong belief that things would — they wouldn’t be perfect. But they’d be better. I’m confident about that. I really do,” he said.

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C-SPAN shared a clip of the conversation on Friday, after which the remarks circulated online and renewed attention on Obama’s views on female leadership.

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The hour-long Salem State Series event attracted about 3,600 people to the university’s O’Keefe Sports Complex, while hundreds of others watched from a satellite venue on campus.

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Obama made a similar argument in 2019 during a leadership event in Singapore, where he said he believed countries would improve if women ran every country for two years.

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