Double standard for women leaders
Finland’s visiting prime minister was asked not about her country’s application to join Nato, or her handling of the pandemic, but about being similar in age and gender to Jacinda Ardern. Bridie Witton reports.
Sanna Marin and Jacinda Ardern regularly face sexist double standards as their nation’s prime ministers – but Marin surely would not have expected such jibes to follow her to a press conference in Auckland, where Ardern felt the need to remind reporters that two women leaders don’t meet just because they’re women.
On her first visit to New Zealand, Marin was not initially asked about the war on her doorstep, nor her bold decision to apply to join Nato, a move which threatens the security of her country’s relationship with neighbouring Russia.
She wasn’t asked about her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, or what she and Ardern could do as women leaders to better help women facing brutality and persecution in Iran or Afghanistan.
Instead, in a shared press conference, Ardern was asked a series of inane questions including whether they were meeting ‘‘just because you’re similar in age and have a lot of common stuff there, when you got into politics . . .’’.
‘‘I wonder if anyone ever asked Barack Obama and John Key if they met because they were a similar age,’’ Ardern retorted.
Dr Josephine Varghese, a political analyst at Victoria University of Wellington’s Democracy Project, said the tone and tenor of questions were disappointing and missed the opportunity to probe what the pair were doing to help women not as privileged as them.
Women and girls face a significant deterioration in their human rights around the world. Women in Afghanistan cannot leave the house or work under Taliban rule. In Iran, the government is violently cracking down on women-led protests and sentencing some to death. Russia’s war on Ukraine is having a devastating impact on displaced women and children.
Growing inequality and the sharply rising cost of living have a greater negative effect on women, who are generally paid less, have fewer economic opportunities, and are more likely to be single-parent households.
For Ardern, valid questions could centre around the women experiencing violence in emergency accommodation, or young mothers living in cars with their children.
New Zealand and Finland had made massive strides when it came to women and politics, Varghese said, and both populations broadly accept women in leadership roles. Notably, a gender equality milestone of 50% of women MPs in Parliament was reached this month, but there needed to be a greater focus on women who are struggling.
‘‘Gender is always an important issue,’’ Varghese said. ‘‘We need to look at gender in more of a deep way and turn our focus away from women who are privileged . . . both those leaders are now presiding over
economies where inequality is growing.’’
Marin and Ardern share superficial commonalities; relatively young PMs (Marin is 37 and Ardern 42), liberal leftprogressives who are mothers. Marin faced intense scrutiny when a video of her dancing exuberantly at a house party was leaked to tabloids, and she took a test to prove to critics she was not under the influence of drugs.
At home, Ardern regularly faces misogynistic vitriol far beyond the bounds of legitimate political criticism, as well as violent threats which are deemed a risk to national security. This arguably worsened throughout the pandemic.
Ardern threw her support behind Marin and said the partying criticism was harmful and would not attract people to politics. She agreed with Marin yesterday when she said it was important to show younger generations you could still be yourself and engage in politics. ‘‘There is room for you.’’
Marin said her visit to New Zealand and Australia – the first by a Finnish leader – came amid intense geopolitical instability, and democracies should ensure they are working closely together.
But she was also questioned about the ‘‘party PM’’ tag. ‘‘I don’t focus on it. I focus on other issues – there is war in Europe. You are free to discuss and write what you want, but I am focused on the issues.’’