Caught up between Motherhood and Prime Ministership, New Zealand’s Prime Minister is the new role model

File Photo: Jacina Ardern- prime Minister of New Zealand

The New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern joined office today as her maternity leave got over. Ardern became the second Prime Minister after Benazir Bhutto to become a mother while in office. She released a statement stating that she is absolutely ready to be on track and thanked her Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peter for covering up for her and looking after issues concerning the country. The Prime Minister also took to Instagram where she mentioned about how grateful her life has become after the birth of her second child, but all this while even during her leave she regularly read papers and official documents.

Ardern who turned 38 this year, has many more responsibilities than just being a mother, as the youngest Prime Minister she needs to manage both family and a population of 5 million people. She will also be travelling to the US later this month with her newborn, Neve. Upon joining the office, she had also released a few statements on the recent developments that had taken place during her leave. She highlighted the Trump-Kim meet, and how this symbolises hope in the 21st-century state order and directed towards the goal of denuclearization. She also expressed her views on the ongoing US-China trade war and how this will ever end but the biggest highlight of all her statements was the fact that her government does not indeed on becoming a ‘Republic’ in the near future.

New Zealand has been a commonwealth country since, and Ardern highlighted how her government needs to find a process for addressing the injustices made against the Maori before it recognises itself as a ‘Republic’. The young Prime Minister has always been optimistic about the goals her government is committed too, she is now a representative of modernization, innovation, leadership and of course, motherhood.

*Arijita Sinha Roy is a Research Intern at The Kootneeti