In Forbes Women Column, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Shares Her Thoughts on Women Leadership amid COVID-19 Pandemic

Akin Gump senior advisor Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has been featured in the Forbes Women column “10 Prominent Women Spotlight the Need for Women’s Leadership During the Pandemic and Beyond,” sharing her thoughts on the importance of women’s leadership amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ros-Lehtinen served in the House of Representatives for nearly three decades and was the first Latina elected to Congress. She spoke of how, throughout the pandemic, “strong women leaders have stood out as cool, calm, and collected in the face of adversity and uncertainty.” In particular, she pointed to German Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan. Were it not for these “courageous women,” she said, the spread of COVID-19 could have been much worse in those countries.

While not directly related to gender, Ros-Lehtinen said the leadership qualities seen in Chancellor Merkel and President Tsai “should be emulated by their male counterparts” for their understanding of the science behind the spread of the coronavirus as well as the compassion they showed toward those afflicted.

In comparing these two leaders to the likes of Golda Meir and Eleanor Roosevelt, Ros-Lehtinen said that as a society, “we must do more to inspire, to encourage, to nurture the future Merkels and Tsais of the global community.” Women leaders of the future, she said, “could very well be the solution to the next horrible pandemic that will threaten us all.” The global community, she added, depends on them.

To read the column in its entirety, please click here.