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| Photo credit — Barrack Obama |
Former U.S. President Barack Obama recently reiterated a long-held view on leadership during a public conversation at Salem State University in Massachusetts. Speaking with Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, Obama said he believes governments around the world would perform better overall if women were given the chance to lead them for a period of two years.
The remarks came during an hour-long event in the Salem State Series on Monday, September 21 (as reported in coverage around September 24–26).
The sold-out discussion drew about 3,600 people to the university’s O’Keefe Sports Complex, with hundreds more watching from a satellite venue on campus. Obama reflected on leadership, governance, and the importance of creating opportunities for younger generations to take on positions of responsibility.
He recalled an idea he had while serving in the White House: “Even when I was president, I sometimes fantasized 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?” He continued that he did not expect perfect results but expressed confidence in a net improvement: “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.”
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This is not a new position for Obama. In December 2019, while speaking at a leadership event in Singapore, he made a similar argument. He stated that women are “not perfect” but “indisputably better” than men in leadership in his view, and that if every nation were run by women for two years there would be significant improvements “across the board on just about everything… living standards and outcomes.” He has also linked many global problems to older (often male) leaders who cling to power and resist stepping aside for fresh perspectives.
Context on women’s representation in leadership
Discussions like Obama’s sit against a backdrop of gradual but incomplete progress in women’s political representation. Data from sources such as the Center for American Women and Politics and Pew Research Center show increases over decades in the share of women in cabinets, legislatures, and executive roles in various countries, yet parity remains distant in most places. Research on leadership styles sometimes highlights differences in collaborative approaches, risk assessment, or prioritization of certain social issues, though outcomes depend heavily on institutions, culture, specific individuals, and circumstances rather than gender alone. Critics of broad gender-based claims note that competence, experience, ideology, and accountability matter more than sex, and that both men and women have records of strong and weak governance.
Obama’s comments also tied into broader themes of political renewal and reducing barriers for younger people. At the Salem State event he reportedly discussed U.S. political divisions, suggesting that ordinary Americans may be less polarized at the grassroots level than media and elite politics often portray.
Why this matters for readers
Obama’s repeated statements spark debate about diversity in leadership, succession planning in politics, and how societies evaluate potential leaders. Supporters see them as encouragement for greater inclusion and recognition of underrepresented talent. Others view them as overly generalized or as downplaying individual merit and institutional design. Either way, the remarks highlight ongoing conversations about who holds power and how leadership pipelines can be broadened.
For primary source material, C-SPAN shared a clip of the relevant portion of the conversation. Readers interested in the full discussion can look for coverage or recordings from the Salem State event and compare it with Obama’s 2019 Singapore comments.
Samuel O. Sulaimon is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Naijapiz. He covers news, politics, current affairs, education, and technology.
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