New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is preparing for her return to office, just six weeks after giving birth to her first child with partner, Clarke Gayford.
The 38-year-old gave birth to her daughter, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, on June 21st, revealing her newborn to the world in the way all progressive Prime Minister’s do: with an Instagram selfie.
Now that the end of her short maternity leave is looming, Ardern took to Facebook to talk about her return to parliament. “I thought I would quickly touch base to let you know that we’re all doing really, really well,” she said, while rocking Neve in a crib beside her.
“The first week back, I’m going to be focused on getting straight back into it. Trade, the environment, mental health, unemployment,” Arden said, noting that she’ll be “hitting the ground running.”
Speaking of juggling her huge job with looking after her newborn, Ardern earlier told marie claire that she’s no superhero: millions of women all over the world juggle parenting in the same way.
“The big difference is that I have a lot of help,” she says. “I think the true role models are the single parents who don’t have as much help as I’m going to have. I’m very mindful of that.”
Upon announcing the news in January, New Zealand’s Prime Minister was hit with an avalanche of judgement. Some was positive: she was called a role model and held up as proof that women don’t need to choose between having a career and a family. Some was less so: with sniping digs about how the country was likely to fall to pieces under the stewardship of a new mother.
“All I can do, really, is give people reassurance that it won’t [affect the job],” she said at the time “But I know I’m going to have to prove it.”
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