Adern returns to work after having baby
New Zealand premier is first leader in the country’s history to take maternity leave while in office
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, 38, returned to work yesterday, just six weeks after delivering her first child, having become the first premier in the nation’s history to take maternity leave while in office.
The premier’s pregnancy was seen by many as a symbol of progress for women in leadership roles as she became only the second elected leader — after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto in 1990 — to have given birth in office. “Day to day, I’m worrying about feeding, sleeping and nappies and then there’s this overlay of interest in something that is actually mundane,” Ardern said in an interview with Television New Zealand.
“I’m just perhaps among some of the first who are doing something that hasn’t been done very often, but one day it will be normal.” New Zealand’s parliament has worked to become more babyfriendly in recent months and Ardern’s daughter, Neve Te Aroha, will be allowed to be with her mother during debates.
Ardern’s stratospheric rise to become the country’s youngest prime minister and third woman to hold the office resulted in New Zealanders coining the phrase “Jacinda-mania” and her personal approval ratings have been at historic highs. She emerged as leader of the then struggling Labour Party a year ago, weeks before a general election that ended almost a decade of centre-right National Party rule. Ardern will leave her hometown of Auckland to return to the capital, Wellington, on Saturday. Her partner, Clarke Gayford, will care for the baby full-time while she takes her place in parliament on Tuesday.