Dual-Gendered Leadership: Gender-Inclusive Scientific-Political Public Health Communication Supporting Government COVID-19 Responses in Atlantic Canada.

Haorui Wu,Jason Mackenzie

doi:10.3390/healthcare9101345

Abstract

This research aims to identify the influence of woman leadership on improving the traditional man-dominated scientific-political communication towards positive COVID-19-driven public health interventions. Across Canada, dual-gendered leadership (women chief medical officers and men prime minister/premiers) at both federal and provincial levels illustrated a positive approach to “flatten the curve” during the first and second waves of COVID-19. With the four provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island, Atlantic Canada formed the “Atlantic Bubble”, which has become a great example domestically and internationally of successfully mitigating the pandemic while maintaining societal operation. Three provinces have benefitted from this complementary dual-gendered leadership. This case study utilized a scoping media coverage review approach, quantitatively examining how gender-inclusive scientific-political cooperation supported effective provincial responses in Atlantic Canada during the first two waves of COVID-19. This case study discovers that (1) at the provincial government level, woman leadership of mitigation, advocating, and coordination encouraged provincial authorities to adapt science-based interventions and deliver consistent and supportive public health information to the general public; and (2) at the community level, this dual-gendered leadership advanced community cohesion toward managing the community-based spread of COVID-19. Future studies may apply a longitudinal, retrospective approach with Canada-wide or cross-national comparison to further evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of dual-gendered leadership.

Highlights

Gender-specific themes have attracted attention in the field of disaster and emergency management
The same news topic is covered by three outlets simultaneously
This study concentrates on the influence of gender on scientific-political communication during the emergency response to the first two waves of COVID-19

Summary

Introduction

Gender-specific themes have attracted attention in the field of disaster and emergency management. Previous research has highlighted various women’s contributions within an entire lifecycle of an extreme event [1,2] and across different types of disaster events [3,4]. Within the emergency response stage, scholars have significantly contributed to gender-driven vulnerabilities and gender-specific contributions [5,6], less attention has been paid to gender differences that take place in the process of emergency decision making. Possible reasons are grounded in the historical context of man-dominated disaster and emergency management leadership [7]. With an increasing number of women assuming political leadership, this research deficit has potentially been a factor jeopardizing the advancement of an inclusive approach for disaster risk reduction and sustainable community development [8].

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