Page 12 - My FlipBook

When one of the show’s cohosts commented, “Rest assured he won’t leave without
bruised shins,” Ardern responded via Twitter, “I hope your shoes were pointy.”
Ardern has a daughter named Neve with partner Clarke Gayford, who is best
known as a National Geographic channel celebrity fisher (his show is called Fish of
the Day). The politician demonstrated the importance of paid family leave when she
took a six-week break from her job as prime minister after having Neve. The family
does not employ a nanny, and Gayford sometimes can be spotted in the crowd,
bouncing Neve on his knee, while Ardern makes speeches.

WhAt’s ON HER AgeNDA

People often use gendered language with regard to Ardern’s “niceness,” her civil
but direct attitude that she uses with every politician, even those whose views lie far
from hers on the political spectrum. Ardern certainly prioritizes the needs of families
by increasing welfare benefits, paid parental leave, and quotas for the number
of refugees that New Zealand can house, causes that affect the lives of women
throughout the country.
A terrible crucible of Ardern’s prime ministerial career took place on March
15, 2019. On that day, a shooter strode into Al Noor Mosque and Linwood Islamic
Centre and killed fifty-one members of the city of Christchurch’s Muslim community.
He streamed the massacre on Facebook Live. The ugly and violent show of hatred
terrified New Zealander Muslims and provoked sadness, anger, and helplessness in
individuals far beyond their community, who watched the event and its aftermath
play out via media coverage.
The world needed comfort, and a mother with a lifelong passion for social justice
stepped up to provide just that. Ardern had only been prime minister for a year and a
half, but she knew she needed to deliver a message of unity in the face of this violence.
“We are not immune to the viruses of hate, of fear, of other,” she said at the memorial
service for the victims of the shooting. “We never have been. But we can be the nation
that discovers the cure.” She donned a head scarf to address the grieving Muslim
community and the gesture was picked up by her fellow non-Muslim New Zealanders.
Soon Ardern’s image was being projected onto Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest
building. Above her face read the word “Peace,” written in both Arabic and English.
But Ardern’s response to the Christchurch shootings was not limited to encouraging
speeches and symbolic gestures. After criticizing Facebook for allowing violent
content on its platform, she wrote legislation to ban the assault weapons and
military-style semiautomatic arms that the terrorist had used, intending to do away
with the means of committing such an act. She—like the rest of the world—hoped
such a massive loss of life would never happen again.

She Represents 16