Former United States President Barack Obama has said governments around the world could perform better if women were given the opportunity to lead for two years.
Obama made the remark during a conversation with historian Doris Kearns Goodwin at a Salem State University event in Massachusetts on Monday.
The former president was speaking about leadership, generational change and the need to create opportunities for younger leaders when he recalled a thought he had while serving in the White House.
“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.
He added: “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.”
A clip of the conversation was shared by C-SPAN on Friday, prompting renewed attention online to Obama’s comments about women in leadership.
The hour-long Salem State Series event attracted approximately 3,600 people to the university’s O’Keefe Sports Complex, while hundreds more reportedly watched from a satellite venue on campus.
Obama has made a similar argument previously. In 2019, while speaking at a leadership event in Singapore, he said he believed the world would be better if women were given the opportunity to run every country for two years.
His latest comments have again sparked discussion about gender, political leadership and the role of women in government.
