Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has spoken about the joys and pressures of motherhood in an appearance on a US breakfast show watched by millions, saying her own experiences have increased her appreciation of parents.
Ardern made a guest appearance on NBC’s Today Show, watched by an audience of over four million.
She was described as “a world leader in the spotlight for a number of reasons”, but unsurprisingly much of the focus was on her status as the first world leader to give birth in office since Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto.
An introductory montage showed some footage of Ardern’s time on the world stage, while a mention of the “controversy” around her pregnancy was followed by a clip of her infamous clash with The AM Show’s Mark Richardson about whether women in the workplace should disclose their parenthood plans (an interview which actually pre-dated news of her pregnancy).
The opening question from NBC’s Savannah Guthrie was far more friendly, with the presenter asking: “What is harder, running a country or taking a three-month-old on the 17-hour flight to get here?”
Laughing, Ardern said “it felt at the time on par”, adding that while Neve had been “a good baby” she felt pressure to keep her quiet while in the air.
“There’s that look though you get as you walk onto a plane with a little one, that stare from other passengers that you’re very conscious of…I actually did apologise in advance.”
Asked about how motherhood had been what she had hoped, Ardern said: “It’s met my expectations – the joy though has surpassed my expectations.”
Ardern said having her own child had increased her appreciation of parents, “mothers and solo mothers particularly”.
“My appreciation for that has increased tenfold: I already had that appreciation, but now it’s on another level,” she said, also mentioning her Government’s “family-friendly” policies including an extension of paid parental leave.
Asked about how motherhood had been what she had hoped, Ardern said: “It’s met my expectations – the joy though has surpassed my expectations.”
“My sister has two children, I’m very close to her, I’ve watched her go through that journey and so I’ve had a sense of it, but you don’t know until you’re there.”
Guthrie’s co-host Hoda Kotb was complimentary of Ardern’s leadership style, suggesting that kindness and government were two terms which usually didn’t go together.
“I don’t think there’s one rule book for leadership, and I really rebel against this idea that politics has to be a place full of ego and where you’re constantly focused on scoring hits against one another,” Ardern replied.
“Yes, we need a robust democracy, but you can be strong and you can be kind.”
“People here say it’s like as if Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz got together and they’re running the government.”
In remarks sure to incur the wrath of New Zealand First leader and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, Guthrie asked Ardern about the challenges of running a coalition government with “a political polar opposite”.
“People here say it’s like as if Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz got together and they’re running the government,” she said, referring to the self-described democratic socialist who challenged Hillary Clinton from the left and a hardline Republican senator from Texas.
Ardern tried to politely rebut the line of argument, saying: “Actually, we do have things we really share in common.”
“We have principles and beliefs that are in common and we use them as our platform together – our focus on making sure that all New Zealanders are getting decent health, decent education and the environment is doing well, so we build on that.”
There was only a fleeting mention of Ardern’s reason for visiting New York, the UN General Assembly, when she was asked at the end of the interview what she would say to US President Donald Trump if she met him.
“I would just talk about New Zealand, I’d like to think we’re exemplars in that we’ve got a record we can be proud of, so I’d probably just talk about us,” Ardern said.
With that, the interview wrapped up, although not before a half serious admonition from Guthrie: “Next time, bring the baby.”
