The success of women leaders in handling the pandemic has been notable. Their human-centric and collaborative approaches have not only revealed important aspects of crisis management, but also stand as potential hallmarks of a new style of leadership for modern times. Despite these successes, many women remain excluded from leadership positions.

In this Sciana webinar, health care leaders will hear from Dame Sally Davies, Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance to the UK, and former Chief Medical Officer of England. She will discuss her driving force to leadership, the ways in which she navigates and negotiates gendered dynamics in her career, and importantly: her take on what needs to change.

Globally women leaders, such as Angela Merkel in Germany, Erna Solberg in Norway, Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand and Tsai Ing Wen in Taiwan have handled the COVID pandemic distinctly. Departing from economy-first, and command and control playbooks, these national women leaders managed to effectively flatten the curve of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

There is much to learn and gain from women in leadership, however significant barriers and bias still stand in the way of women’s access to, experience and performance in leadership roles – and to the adoption of collaborative and stereotypically “feminine” ways of leading across genders. What exactly is needed to ensure change across a variety of roles, institutional cultures, sectors and country settings is still not well understood.

In a conversation among Sciana members, including Anna Babette Stier, Head, Directorate Health Protection and Sustainability, Federal Ministry of Health in Germany, the webinar will provide further perspectives on this topic, reflecting on traditional masculinity in the working world, differing gender norms around leadership, and ways of driving fairness and diversity. 

By invitation only.