With her resignation, Jacinda Ardern surprised the whole world and made it talk about feelings
The worst terrorist attack in New Zealand’s history, a deadly volcanic eruption and a global pandemic with debilitating lockdowns – these are just some of the challenges faced by the country’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern.
After 6 years in power, through tears, the young leader announced:
overwork is a thing real and there’s no reason be ashamed of her
With that message, the 42-year-old trailblazer announced on Thursday that she was stepping down from her post.
She made the decision after much deliberation during the Southern Hemisphere summer season. With the upcoming elections in October, she sees no need to extend her rule. “I was hoping that I would find what I needed to get me through this period. Unfortunately, I failed and I would be doing New Zealand a disservice if I remained in charge,” she said in an emotional statement.
As early as Sunday, the Labor Party will vote for a new leader and, if all goes according to plan, Ardern will be relieved of her duties by February 7 – a swift end to a stunning career for the former cashier at a fish and chip restaurant in the small New Zealand town of Morrisville.
Jacinda Ardern has become an example to millions around the world through her progressive policies on international relations. Her controlled exit from power was almost as sudden as her dramatic rise to the premiership in 2017. It came just three months after she was elected leader of the Labor Party.
She was only 37 years old at the time. As a woman leading a remote country with a population of about 5 million people, she could easily be crushed by duped leaders. However, Ardern did not give herself to anyone. That’s why he paid a high price. Her name was often in the headlines of the local press, involved in all sorts of scandals.
It seems that society has a hard time accepting a young mother as a leader –
first principal statesman from 30 years ago who has a baby
She resisted every single imposed stigma. He even took his child to the UN General Assembly. She used to appear with him in the parliament as well. She once interrupted an important televsion message regarding the pandemic to pay attention to her baby girl.
During her tenure, it was important for Ardern to prove that it was possible to juggle family and career. Even in her retirement, she is again an innovator because she demonstrates a rare phenomenon in the political environment. Her action is a lesson to colleagues: when the tank is empty and there is nothing more to give, it is good to give up.
“I’m looking forward to spending time with my family again,” Ardern said. “You could say they are the ones who have sacrificed the most out of all of us.” Her daughter Neve is already 4 years old and her mother is yet to give her more attention.
Ardern said she was resigning because the job was difficult. She did not mention that she was leaving because of threats to her life, but analysts say her decision may have been for security reasons. According to the New Zealand Police
in 2021 vs are addressed to her 50 threats –
compared to 32 in 2020 and 18 in 2019.
Some of them were about the vaccination campaign and the lockdowns, as well as the rights to use firearms. Police said it was impossible to determine a motive for many of the threats, as most were offensive or profanity-laced.
Despite the public disapproval, New Zealand recorded an extremely low number of deaths from COVID-19 – only 2,500. This was precisely due to the timely measures of Ardern, who rushed to close the borders of the already geographically isolated country at the very beginning of the peak of infections around the world.
The prolonged isolation, however, caused serious protests in the capital Wellington last March, and then in October, when a survey indicated that the Prime Minister’s rating was lower than ever – only 30% approved of her management.
