Former United States President Barack Obama has said he believes governments could perform better if women were given the opportunity to lead countries around the world.

Obama made the comment during a conversation with historian Doris Kearns Goodwin at Salem State University in Massachusetts on Monday.

The discussion, which focused partly on leadership and creating opportunities for younger generations, saw Obama recall an idea he had while serving as US president.

He said he had sometimes imagined what would happen if women were placed in charge of governments for two years to see how their leadership would affect governance.

Obama acknowledged that such an arrangement would not make governments perfect but said he expected the outcome to be better.

The former president’s remarks were later shared by C-SPAN, attracting renewed attention to his views on women in leadership.

The Salem State event was attended by about 3,600 people at the university’s O’Keefe Sports Complex, while additional viewers watched from another venue on campus.

Obama had expressed a similar opinion in 2019 during a leadership event in Singapore, where he suggested that countries could experience improvements if women led their governments for two years.

During his latest discussion, Obama also addressed political divisions in the United States. He argued that the level of division among Americans was not as high as the country’s political environment and media coverage might suggest.

He said people across the US continued to interact with one another respectfully despite political differences.