Five years with Jacinda Ardern, or how progressivism and empowerment prevailed over terror and tragedy

Jacinda Ardern became the world’s youngest female political leader when she was elected prime minister in 2017 at age 37. Since then, New Zealand has faced numerous difficulties: the pandemic, the attack on the Christchurch mosques or the eruption of the White Island volcano. Challenges that Ardern solved thanks to her charisma, closeness and determination. However, the until now New Zealand prime minister has admitted that these more than five “challenging” years in her position have taken their toll on her and He does not see himself with energy to run in the general elections to be held next October in New Zealand.

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He announces his resignation. The soon-to-be ex-leader of the Labor Party has taken advantage of the training meeting in the city of Napier to, surprisingly, announce her resignation.

• “Leading a country is the greatest privilege that anyone can have, but also one of the most demanding jobs,” Ardern stressed, while insisting that he does not have “gasoline in the tank to continue.” Likewise, he has set February 7 as the deadline for his term.

• In an emotional intervention in which she has held back tears, Ardern has stated “I do not have enough energy to continue with the work”, and added: “I am human, politicians are human”. In addition, she has assured that she has no plans once she leaves the position, but that she will take the opportunity to spend more time with her family while she thinks about how to continue “helping New Zealand” after more than five years being an example of leadership.

Pioneer in the fight against Covid-19. When the Coronavirus hit the world, your government’s quickness to isolate the country allowed New Zealand to weather the pandemic better than other nations.

• New Zealand closed the border in mid-March 2020 and the country went into lockdown. Ardern then urged New Zealanders to “be nice” to one another. In the first wave, the country only registered less than 2,000 infected people and 25 deaths.

• The pandemic also marked his professional life: Ardern lowered his salary by 20% in solidarity with those who had lost their jobs; also, to her personal life: she was forced to cancel her wedding after announcing new restrictions. “I’m no different than thousands of other New Zealanders,” she said in January 2022. To this day, she remains unmarried.

• His calm leadership and success in managing the virus, praised by the World Health Organization (WHO), led Ardern and the Labor Party to a landslide victory in the 2020 election.

Leadership in the face of terror and tragedy. In the face of the terrorist attacks in Christchurch and the eruption of the Waakari volcano, Jacinda Ardern responded by showing empathy and determination.

• On March 15, 2019, Brenton Tarrant, an Australian white supremacist, shot dead 51 people during an assault on two Christchurch mosques. After the worst attack in New Zealand’s history, the Prime Minister announced a reform of the gun law and dressed in an Islamic headscarf, turning the pain of the Muslim minority into that of all New Zealanders: “We are one, they are us. New Zealand is a safe country, not a place for hate or racism.”

• In December of that same year another tragedy occurred. This time, the eruption of a volcano on Waakari Island, also known as White Island, which killed 17 people, mostly Australian and American tourists. Once again, Ardern took the lead in mourning, showing closeness to the victims and their families.

Against machismo, female empowerment. During her political career, Jacinda Ardern has sought to normalize her role as a mother and leader, and has stood firm against misogynistic attitudes.

• The meeting that took place on November 22 between Jacinda Ardern and the Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, was overshadowed by a macho question from a journalist who asked if the meeting was taking place because they were women of close ages. “A lot of people will wonder if you two get together just because you’re similar in age and because you have a lot in common,” was the question from Joey Dwyer, a local journalist for ‘Newstalk ZB Radio’. Faced with the misogynistic comment, Ardern did not hesitate to vindicate the role of women in politics: “I wonder if anyone has ever questioned Barack Obama and John Key if they met because they were the same age.” And she specified: “We have a higher proportion of men in politics, it is the reality. If two women know each other, it is not because of their gender.”

• Ardern had her only daughter, Neve, when she was already prime minister, and normalized her role as mother and leader. The New Zealand prime minister did not hesitate to take her daughter, when she was a baby, to the General Assembly of the United Nations; being the first time that a political leader did it. The image with her little girl in New York in 2018 went around the world for its naturalness. An example of reconciling family and work life.