Under pressure: Women’s leadership during the COVID-19 crisis()

We study the effect of women’s public leadership in times of crisis. We use a regression discontinuity design in close mayoral races between male and female candidates to understand the impact of having a woman as a mayor during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. Female leadership reduced deaths and hospitalizations per 100 thousand inhabitants while increasing enforcement of non-pharmaceutical interventions. These results are not due to measures taken before the pandemic or other observable mayoral characteristics such as education or political preferences. The effects are stronger in municipalities where Brazil’s far-right president, who publicly disavowed the importance of non-pharmaceutical interventions, had a higher vote share in the 2018 election. Overall, our findings provide credible evidence that female leaders outperformed male ones when dealing with a global policy issue. They also showcase that local leaders can counteract policies implemented by populist leaders at the national level.