Psychologist Nigel Latta says any differences between the leadership styles of men and women come down to upbringing, rather than gender.
The comments come after former Prime Minister Helen Clark said in a BBC interview the success of countries with female leaders in tackling Covid-19 came down to their ability to listen.
She said women leaders had smaller egos compared to their male counterparts and were more willing to take advice.
Latta told Seven Sharp there were “no brain-based differences” between the egos of different genders.
Instead, he said the differences in the social culture of males and females had an impact.
“Male culture certainly socialises, I think, male leaders to be potentially less empathetic and more egotistical,” he said.
“But I think if you look at the science, what that means is that if you’re a male and you’re a leader... and you’re a little bit arrogant and you’re not very compassionate, you can’t blame that on your gender.
“You are just not such a good person and you need to lift your game.”
Ms Clark also said the skills of women leaders were empathy and communication with the public. She said this was vital because the best pandemic strategy won’t succeed if the public don’t buy into it.
However, Latta said research into empathy showed various results between genders depending on its method. With self-reported results, women tend to come up on top.
“When it’s an experimental design, the differences start to disappear,” Latta said.
“So, the idea that there is some fundamental gender-based difference to empathy doesn’t quite seem to hold up.”
Latta also called the idea that there are differences in the brains of women and men “sexual pseudo-science”.
“Yes, there are small average differences between men and women in brain functioning.
“But, there’s lots and lots of overlap,” he said.
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