New Zealand PM And Partner Are Shattering Gender Stereotypes And Setting Major Parenting Goals

Times have changed. Slowly but surely, the patriarchial colours of the society are wearing off. Today, we are lucky to live in a time when toxic gender stereotypes gradually dissolve. Men no longer bear the responsibility of being the sole breadwinner, and women have surpassed their traditionally designated role of being in charge of the kitchen, by a zillion miles.

Relationships have finally started to become partnerships, as they should be. Parents take equal responsibility for the upbringing of their children as opposed to it just being the mother’s duty.

And speaking of shattering stereotypes, the New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is as good as they come.

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Kicked off today at a Salvation Army breakfast where child wellbeing was the theme. As a team we talk a lot about reducing poverty, but it’s not our only challenge. Family violence has a huge impact on kids, whether they experience it directly or witness it. Yes we want to prevent it from happening, but we have to acknowledge that the services who work on the frontline (like @womensrefugenz) haven’t had an increase in funding in 10 years. Today we announced that we’ll change that, with an extra $76million over 4 years to help those who are helping families. Just one thing we need to do to make our country the best place in the world for children.

A post shared by Jacinda Ardern (@jacindaardern) on May 8, 2018 at 6:06pm PDT

Jacinda is 37 years old, unmarried and just a few weeks back gave birth to her child while in office. According to NBC news, she is the second person in history to give birth while being an elected head of state. And she’s the only one ever to go on maternity leave.

The PM and her partner TV host Clarke Gayford, announced the arrival of their baby girl via social media.

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Welcome to our village wee one. Feeling very lucky to have a healthy baby girl that arrived at 4.45pm weighing 3.31kg (7.3lb) Thank you so much for your best wishes and your kindness. We're all doing really well thanks to the wonderful team at Auckland City Hospital.

A post shared by Jacinda Ardern (@jacindaardern) on Jun 20, 2018 at 11:14pm PDT

According to a viral Facebook post, the parents introduced the child to the world just 2 days after birth during a press conference on the nightly news:

As per the post, Jacinda and Clarke have decided to name their baby girl Neve Te Aroha.

The significance of the name is explained as such:

“Te Aroha means ‘The Love’ in Maori. It represents ALL the names that were submitted, upon her request, from various tribes throughout the country, and was Jacinda’s attempt at capturing them all.”

Jacinda has taken a maternity leave of 6 weeks and once she resumes her duties as the PM, Clarke has decided to step in as the stay at home father.

The post continues:

Moreover, Jacinda has scored herself some major praise with a certain reform that she put in effect on the 1st of July.

As per the reform, new parents will now get a paid leave of 22 weeks, as opposed to the previous 18, among other things. Apparently, the PM announced the details via a Facebook Live session from her couch, right after breastfeeding her baby.

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People like Jacinda and Clarke are evidence that stereotypes can be broken if we set our mind to it. Congratulations to the both of them for being such good role models and to little baby Neve on getting such kickass parents.