Three months after being sworn in as New Zealand’s Prime Minister on October 25, Jacinda Ardern has announced that she is expecting her first child.
“Clarke [Gayford] and I are really excited that in June our team will expand from two to three, and that we’ll be joining the many parents out there who wear two hats,” she wrote on Facebook.
“I’ll be Prime Minister AND a mum, and Clarke will be “first man of fishing” and stay at home dad. I think it’s fair to say that this will be a wee one that a village will raise, but we couldn’t be more excited.”
At 37 years old, Prime Minister Ardern is the youngest-ever leader of the New Zealand Labor party, and her rise to political supremacy has been likened to the success of world leaders Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron.
Ardern in action.
^^ Side note: let’s draw attention to the elephant/lack of women in this room.
As reported by the ABC, before announcing her pregnancy, Ardern had been asked about how motherhood may impact her position as Prime Minister of New Zealand (for argument’s sake, let’s just point out here that a man would NEVER be asked this question. Infinite eyerolls…)
“A lot of women in New Zealand feel like they have to make a choice between having babies and having a career, or continuing their career at a certain point in their lives,” she told The Project NZ.
^^ Just another day for women in politics.
However, when grilled by a NZ radio show pannelist about whether it is “OK for a PM to take maternity leave while in office”, Ardern served the journalist a proverbial back-hand.
“It is unacceptable,” she swiftly retorted. “It is a woman’s decision about when they choose to have children.”
“It should not predetermine whether they are given a job or have job opportunities.”
^^Our thoughts, exactly.
Regardless of your role – be it a school teacher, hairdresser or even the Prime Minister – having children, subsequently taking maternity leave and keeping at your career, should NOT be a contentious, gender-driven conversation.
If anything, conversations surrounding maternity leave should centre around eligibility and entitlements – y’know, grown-up stuff.
According to Fair Work Ombudsman, all employees in Australia are entitled to parental leave.
Employees are able to take parental leave if they:
Have worked for their employer for at least 12 months
Before the date or expected date of birth if the employee is pregnant
Before the date of the adoption, or
When the leave starts (if the leave is taken after another person cares for the child or takes parental leave)
have or will have responsibility for the care of a child
For more information about your maternity, or paternity, leave entitlements, visit fairwork.gov.au.
