She’s having a baby with a man she’s not married to, and he’s going to stay at home while she runs the country. Prime minister Jacinda Ardern tells Positive News how she hopes to make New Zealand the best place in the world to have a child
In October 2017, just three weeks after becoming prime minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern got a surprise: she discovered she was pregnant.
Fast-forward a few months, and the 37-year-old – variously branded “a pretty communist” (by right-wingers in New Zealand) and “the anti-Trump” (in an adoring Vogue profile) – is poised to become only the second world leader to give birth while in office.
The announcement sparked a global media frenzy, especially when Ardern made clear that she would take six weeks of maternity leave, then resume running the country. Her partner Clarke Gayford, who hosts a TV show about fishing, will become a stay-at-home dad. “I am not the first woman to work and have a baby,” Ardern told reporters. “We are going to make this work, and New Zealand is going to help us raise our first child.”
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The news has met with near-universal support, even from her political rivals – a sign, she suggests to Positive News, of how far things have come since the 1980s, when pioneering female legislators fought for the right to breastfeed in New Zealand’s parliament building. “I remember – and it’s not that long ago – when parents taking their children into cafes and restaurants were, if not unwelcome, then definitely frowned upon. MP Ruth Richardson was vilified for wanting to breastfeed her baby,” recalls Ardern. “Thankfully all that’s changing.”
These days, she adds, parliament Speaker Trevor Mallard takes pride in running a family-friendly legislature, often holding babies while their lawmaker parents debate policy. “The more opportunities parents have to include their children in their daily ‘work’ lives, the better for everyone.”
Ardern is no stranger to the spotlight. Combining the camera-friendly youthfulness of Canada’s Justin Trudeau or France’s Emmanuel Macron, with carefully judged populism, she reinvigorated New Zealand’s Labour party when she took over the reins in summer 2018. She led it to a remarkable electoral comeback, becoming the world’s youngest female head of government.
I want my child growing up in a country where we all care about each other, about the now and about the future
It hasn’t all been plain sailing. Ardern’s meteoric ascent – dubbed ‘Jacindamania’ by the global press – culminated in her forming a coalition government in partnership with New Zealand First, a nationalist party that is frequently accused of racism and xenophobia.
Ardern’s challenge is ho told her awkward alliance together, while grappling with thorny political issues, including homelessness, environmental problems and entrenched inequality. Despite being media savvy, she has made a few missteps, and has been forced to promise to delay any major tax-policy…
