If women ran the world, there would be no wars. A comforting myth or a subtle essentialist trap?

This phrase often gets thrown around in progressive and liberal spaces as a feel-good expression — "If women ruled the world, there would be no wars." On the surface, it sounds empowering and hopeful. But the more I think about it, the more it feels like a dangerously simplistic, even essentialist idea that reduces women to peaceful angels and men to violent beasts.

From a radical feminist and materialist perspective, this statement fails to account for the real issue: patriarchal systems, imperialism, capitalism, and militarism — not merely the gender of the leaders at the top. If a woman is in charge of a militarized, capitalist nation-state, her being a woman doesn't magically dismantle the structure. In fact, women leaders in history have often conformed to — and even perpetuated — the same violent systems.

Let’s not forget:

Margaret Thatcher launched the Falklands War, supported austerity, and brutalized labor movements.

Indira Gandhi led India into war with Pakistan and declared Emergency, suspending civil liberties.

Golda Meir governed during the Yom Kippur War and was unapologetically hawkish.

Even Hillary Clinton, in a modern U.S. context, advocated for military interventions and regime change in Libya.

None of these women magically made the world peaceful. Why? Because they operated within the same hierarchical, violent, and power-obsessed systems men do. Gender alone doesn't dismantle power structures.

So I ask: Is this myth doing more harm than good by implying women are inherently "better" at peace? Doesn’t that reduce women to a pacifist stereotype — gentle, submissive, conflict-averse — which has been used for centuries to keep them away from power?

Also, is it not ironic that this phrase is often used in neoliberal feminism to justify putting more women into positions of elite power, without challenging the violent institutions themselves?

Would love to hear thoughts, especially from other radical feminists, leftist men, and anti-imperialists. Is peace truly about who is in charge — or about how society is structured?

Or I don't know if women went to war so much because they were seen as sociologically weak. Frankly, are women leaders still not respected?

Or are men or women more aggressive biologically?