New Zealand’s leader is an anomaly in this day and age. Seen as relentlessly energetic and enduringly optimistic, Jacinda Ardern stands in stark contrast to the dull and scripted nature of most politicians. A true crisis leader, her accomplishments hint at what the next generation of young leaders can offer, alongside the hope that great, uniting leadership still remains in the world.
Let’s look at key moments in her time in the national spotlight to analyse how deserving she is of her reputation.
Jacindamania
Mrs Ardern took leadership of the Labour Party on the 1st of August, 2017. Arriving onto the national scene nearly a month out from the election later that year. Her predecessor presided over a party that was significantly lagging in the polls, with expectations being confirmed that the long-running Nationals government would be returned. Within a month, Jacinda was able to turn around Labour’s fortunes with the party’s polling rising from 26% to 43%. This is unprecedented in politics, giving rise to the term ‘Jacindamania’ as Mrs Ardern found herself beloved by the media with non-stop favourable press coverage. Ardern secured the Labour party 46 seats on election night, and with the support of the Greens and Winston Peters’ New Zealand First Party, pulled the party out of the wilderness and into government. Ardern has done the seemingly impossible, proving that a politician can be liked.
Another moment of spotlight arrived when Jacinda Ardern had a baby in August of 2018. Oddly enough, her baby shared the birthday with Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, the only other world leader to give birth while in office in the 1990s. Time Magazine added that the significance of this comes down to the debate over maternity leave, Ardern’s decision to take maternity leave during this time represents a rejection of stigmas around women in the workplace.
“I am not a trailblazer… I am not the first woman to multitask. I am not the first woman to work and have a baby. I know these are special circumstances but there will be many women who will have done this well before I have.”
– Jacinda Ardern, in a press conference – January 20th, 2018
Despite this, whether it’s through her consistent advocacy against discrimination in the workplace throughout her life, or the imagery of her with her baby at the UN, Ardern has redefined the relationship between families and the workplace.
A Crisis Leader
On top of her cultural impact, she has shown incredible leadership in times of crisis by staying calm, listening to the advice and acting swiftly. The Christchurch shootings in March of 2019 that claimed dozens of lives was one of the darkest days in New Zealand’s history. The glimmer of light came through Jacinda’s swift response, she committed to never saying the shooter’s name and swiftly passed gun control legislation to ensure this shooting never happens again. The independent called this a ‘polite rebuke’ of other world leader’s responses to domestic mass shootings, specifically the failure of the US to commit to stricter gun control regulations despite countless mass shootings happening too regularly.
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, there seems to be an association between female leaders and successful coronavirus responses with Ardern being the epitome of this image. New Zealand took to tackling COVID-19 fast and hard in July of this year. According to the World Health Organisation, every action that was taken was ‘guided by public health advice and evolving evidence’ and allowed for ‘technical guidance, outbreak updates and and risk assessments from WHO’. New Zealand’s only major outbreak virtually ended by late April, enjoying low numbers until an outbreak in Auckland occurred, but even then, the government responded with the same swiftness as before and the outbreak has since subsided. Jacinda and her cabinet delivered a master-class response to the global pandemic, allowing New Zealand some relative normalcy in a world upended by the virus. Her government enjoys high approval ratings as a result, making her re-election in the upcoming general election very certain.
Controversies
However, Mrs Ardern and her government did face controversy during their tenure. One example of this is when her government’s Child Services Agency was attacked as inhumane due to instances of racial profiling and accusations of taking children away from indigenous families. A documentary in 2019 emerged revealing instances where Maori children were taken from their mothers at birth. A lot of the reasoning behind the removal of the children were ill-conceived and point to racial biases in the system. These events challenge her previous commitments in 2017 to ‘do better by the Maori’ by improving the agency. To be fair, the agency was created before her ascension to office but the events occurring under her watch are unacceptable regardless. Indeed, the Ardern government has had drawbacks during its tenure. However, without undermining the previous point, it is honestly surprising how overwhelmingly positive her track record has been overall.
Jacinda Ardern’s leadership has remained a refreshing break from the bland to distressing leadership that is normally associated with politicians nowadays. She has proven herself as a crisis leader and a positive cultural icon, seeing the country through very difficult times. Despite some serious controversies, she is still deserving of much of the praise given to her leadership. One can only wonder what a second term of her government will entail.
