Meet New Zealand’s Superwoman, Jacinda Ardern6 min read
Reading Time: 5 minutesHere is some sunny news coming out of a small country that is thousands and thousands of miles away. Let us take a peek at New Zealand.
This tiny island right here, next to Australia, is home to the yellow-eyed penguin. But it is also home to a very cool lady, the remarkable Jacinda Ardern, who just won another election to stay the country’s Prime Minister. A majority of the people from New Zealand voted for her to remain in power after a successful three years. She has been a record-breaking Prime Minister in many ways.
Owliver’s Obscure Observation: People from New Zealand are named kiwis after the exotic kiwi bird. It is only found in New Zealand.
When she came into power, she was the youngest leader in the world. She is also one of only a few women leaders across the globe. But NewZealand is far more familiar with women prime Ministers than most nations. Ardern is the third female Prime Minister in NewZealand. In fact, this year, her opponent in the elections was also a woman. That is pretty cool, wouldn’t you say?
President Ardern’s First Term.
Jacinda Ardern, now 40 years old, is the leader of NewZealand’s progressive labor party. Some of her goals have been to reduce child poverty, and fight climate change.
To understand more about New Zealand’s Political Parties click here.
In 2017 when Ardern was first elected, she did not get enough votes to form a government of her choosing. She had to join with an opposition political party to create a coalition government. As one would expect, the two parties didn’t always agree on complex issues. Thus, many of her promised changes were blocked with votes and debates in parliament. Yet, Jacinda Ardern has managed to make admirable decisions that were celebrated across the globe.
Jacinda Ardern’s Past Achievements
Her first achievement, and one that she thinks led to the people voting for her yet again, was her handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Thanks to Prime Ministers Ardern’s swift action, which put human life before politics, New Zealand has become the success story of this pandemic. With very few cases and even fewer deaths, Kiwis, have been largely unaffected by this virus. Only 25 people out of a nation of 5 million have lost their life to Covid19!
<<Photos of a packed stadium after New Zealand was declared Covid free left the rest of the world’s sport fans quite jealous.
Another instance of compassionate and quick action by Prime Minister Ardern was her reaction to two consecutive tragic mass-shootings that left 51 kiwis dead. Within 10 days, prime minister Ardern banned assault rifles that can be used in mass shootings. She continues to make stricter gun laws for the country. She took care of the families that suffered and showed the world the power of empathy.
Jacinda Ardern a family member of a victim of the shooting.>>
Owliver's Obscure Observation: Jacinda Ardern is only the second lady in the world to have a baby while serving as Prime Minister of a Nation. She most definitely showed us that a woman can have a baby, be a mother, and do her job well!
Watch this video to know more about Prime minister Ardern’s achievements.
Promises and Challenges
This time around, Jacinda Ardern has won the election by a huge margin. She can finally form a government that will assist her in bringing about the changes and laws that she has promised.
Jacinda Ardern’s new style of empathetic governance has created a stir. Several newspapers including the Guardian and New York Times have called this growing excitement around the Prime Minister “Jacindamania”.
All said and done, nobody is perfect. It took several years of hard work and strength to make Jacinda Ardern the Prime Minister of her nation.In fact, it was only after 20 years in politics and several wins and losses that Jacinda Ardern finally became the Prime Minister of New Zealand.
Prime Minister Ardern has a lot of challenges and problems that she is yet to solve. Although she saved many lives by locking down New Zealand, the nation relies heavily on tourists to make money. How is PM Ardern going to ensure that her country doesn’t loose too much money? How will she fight the growing problem of child poverty in her nation? She has made several grand promises, will she be able to fulfil them? We can only hope that she will face her problems with compassion and never back down in the face of a challenge.
So be kind and don’t worry if you fail. Because if you act with compassion, you will get the chance to try to succeed again.
Watch Jacinda Ardern’s remarkable story below:
Were you inspired by Jacinda Ardern, let us know why in the comments below.
Images: Instagram, The Indian Express, GIPHY, The Spinoff, ScoopWhoop, The Conversation, National Geographic Kids, Freepik
With Excerpts from: New York Times, The Guardian, The Guardian, The Independent, Stuff NZ, The Indian Express, The Hindu
