In an emotional speech addressing the heavy personal loss of a life of political activism, Nicola Sturgeon today announced that she will step down as Scotland’s first minister after eight years in the position. .
“Dedicating yourself completely to this work is the only way to do it – the country deserves nothing less,” she said in her resignation announcement. “But the truth is, that can only be done by anyone for a long time. For me, now it runs the risk of becoming too long.”
Her remarks were immediately compared with those made a few weeks ago when the New Zealand prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, resigned, saying she didn’t have the “full pitcher plus a little bit of reserve” that leaders needed. “Politicians are human too,” Ardern said. “We give everything we can, as long as we can, and then the time has come. And for me the time has come.”
Female leaders are still relatively rare, but the comparison between the two resignations isn’t just about gender. (It is noteworthy that when Ardern stepped down, hardly anyone mentioned Liz Truss, who had resigned as British prime minister after a disastrously short term just a few months earlier.)
Both Sturgeon and Ardern resigned after political setbacks, but not by scandal, placing them in stark contrast to leaders like Boris Johnson, who held power after multiple scandals before being ousted. overthrown by an uprising in his own party. And while in office, both women displayed caring and protective political personalities, especially in times of the Covid pandemic, although Sturgeon has often been more assertive in her dealings. with the government in Westminster.
Their resignation suggests a shift in leaders’ perceived power and desirable traits that could have far-reaching consequences for governance, as well as their ability to gain political power. women’s treatment.
‘A person as well as a politician’
Resigning before being forced out can be a way to leave office with a political reputation intact, but it also runs the risk of looking like a quitter.
Both leaders have suffered significant political setbacks recently.
Ms Ardern’s party is falling in the polls amid voters’ dissatisfaction with the economy and inflation. Sturgeon’s party suffered a blow to the Scottish independence campaign when a court held in November that a new independence referendum would have to be passed by the British Parliament. And Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s decision to block a Scottish bill to make it easier for people to officially change their gender has threatened a constitutional crisis on the possibility of passing Scotland’s own legislation.
But Sturgeon’s resignation speech suggests that she sees Ardern as a role model, if not for her own decision, then at least in terms of how best to present it to the public.
Both women spoke of their desire to spend more time with their family – Sturgeon with her teenage niece and nephew; Ardern with his young children. That theoretical basis has long been seen as a cliché for a leader forced to resign under less-than-ideal circumstances. But it works differently for female leaders.
Sturgeon and Ardern went beyond the trivial to describe the specific roles they missed and hoped to fill. And such roles have traditionally been seen as valuable and important to women in ways that they are not for men. (Although perhaps not taken seriously – Sturgeon jokes that her niece and nephew are 17 years old, “exactly a terrifying age to think that your aunt suddenly has more time for you.” .”)
That suggests one way women can overcome the Catch-22 that many women face when they try to exercise power or authority: The common image of a “strong leader” is one confident and cocky, but from research that if women act that way, they will be seen as unlovable and even illegal leader. Often, the answer to such findings focuses on how to reduce the punishment women face for going against gender stereotypes. But another approach is to tackle the problem in the opposite direction, shifting perceptions of strong leadership to include traits more stereotypically associated with women.
Ms. Ardern’s speech was part of a long track record of doing just that by tying her leadership role to a cooperative, friendly and exemplary political figure, like myself. wrote in january. For instance, when Ardern spoke to the nation after the country began a strict Covid-19 lockdown in March 2020, she did an informal Facebook Live session on her phone while wearing a warm sweater and make sure everyone knows that she just finished baby to bed.
Sturgeon doesn’t have the political personality of such an overt mother, and rarely shows herself as cozy or homely. But she often frames her political power in terms of concern. During the pandemic, for example, she criticized Boris Johnson for “sparkling” over the death toll from the virus, saying “whether it’s the life of a child, a young man or an adult age, a human life is still a human life.”
Her decision to echo Ardern’s speech in her resignation suggests that she may have seen strength in that approach. And while two speeches are not enough to declare a trend, if this political style becomes increasingly effective and admired, it could have an impact on quality as well as style.
I often think about an interview I did it in 2020 with Alice Evans, a lecturer at King’s College London who has studied how women gain power in public life. She makes the point that the typical male leadership style, which prioritizes risk-taking and combat, may not be suitable for situations like a pandemic. Limited visibility into what a leader looks like can lead to limited leadership options, detrimental to policy.
However, there is a narrow line between considering feminine characteristics as valuable for leadership roles and requiring female politicians to conform to stereotypical gender norms. Ardern, though unmarried, is a white, educated mother and has a long relationship with the father of her children – roles that are generally considered respectable and valuable to a woman. .
In contrast, leaders who move further from the perception of respect for women may face backlash. Sanna Marin, the prime minister of Finland, is often compared to Ardern. She married her longtime partner, the father of her young daughter while in office. But Marin was embroiled in a political crisis after videotapes emerged of her dancing in a nightclub and a photograph of two topless women embracing each other at a party she organized. In a tearful speech, Marin defended her right to privacy, but she was pressured to take a drug test and she passed.
Sturgeon is childless, and based on her relationships with nieces and nephews may not be as powerful a motivating role as Ardern mentions motherhood. But the fact that she completely achieves that style shows that political archetypes are evolving.
