Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s very own Prime Minister, and her partner Clarke Gayford have welcomed their first child. A healthy baby girl was born at 4:45pm today weighing 3.31kg (7.3lb) in Auckland.
The Prime Minister’s due date was June 17th but her little one obviously wanted to enjoy a few more days of peace and quiet.
Jacinda, a champion for women and mothers everywhere, was the first pregnant world leader in nearly 30 years. In addition, she’s the country’s third female prime minister and the first to be sworn in while pregnant.
Prime Minister Ardern has always been an advocate for children. In fact, alongside the need to protect New Zealand’s heritage and its environment, her main priority in office is to secure the future of kiwi children. Ardern’s government is also currently implementing a swath of legislation to ease the burden for working families, such as increasing paid parental leave.
The couple found out they were pregnant last October, celebrating their news with hamburgers, and flowers from the shop around the corner. Their relaxed approach to changing gender norms and giving parliament a bit of a shake-up uses the same feminist approach that New Zealanders have pioneered for decades. Afterall, New Zealand was the first country in the world in which all women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections.
“We’ve come a long way from the time when it was thought women should stay at home to be barefoot and pregnant,” said Gill Greer, the chief executive of the National Council of Women of New Zealand.
