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Obama says women 'indisputably' better at leading, BBC reports

Posted at 11:39 AM, Dec 16, 2019
and last updated 2019-12-16 14:39:36-05

SINGAPORE – There would be "significant improvement across the board" if countries were led by women, former President Barack Obama said, BBC News reported.

"Now women, I just want you to know; you are not perfect, but what I can say pretty indisputably is that you're better than us [men]," the former commander in chief said. "I'm absolutely confident that for two years, if every nation on Earth was run by women, you would see a significant improvement across the board on just about everything ... living standards and outcomes."

Obama made the remarks while speaking at a private event about leadership in Singapore, the BBC reported. Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama traveled to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, for the Obama Foundation Leaders: Asia-Pacific program.

CNN reached out to Obama's office.

He also said he would not take another political leadership role, according to the BBC.

"If you look at the world and look at the problems, it's usually old people, usually old men, not getting out of the way," he said. "It is important for political leaders to try and remind themselves that you are there to do a job, but you are not there for life, you are not there in order to prop up your own sense of self importance or your own power."

Obama launched a new initiative in August aimed at voting reform and fighting against gerrymandering and recently commented on the 2020 presidential election.