Jacinda Ardern - The Power & The Pressure Of Balancing It All

A lot has changed for Jacinda Ardern since her swift ascent to the PM’s office in 2017. Now a global political sensation and an accidental poster girl for working mothers, she talks to Phoebe Watt about her year of delivery, and what it really takes to have it all

- Phoebe Watt

On the wall of the central Auckland apartment where we are photographing Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, there’s an artwork by Kiwi sculptor Max Gimblett. It’s a small, brass quatrefoil from his 2015 installation, ‘The Art of Remembrance’. “You know you’re a real adult when you’ve got one of those,” says the Prime Minister.

Among those present, there’s awkward laughter. Should we point out that if you’re running a country, it’s probably safe to say that you, too, are ‘adulting’?

Herein lies the curious duality of our 38-year-old PM. On one side of the scale, she’s the fiercely intelligent, steely and devoted politician who’s firing on all cylinders when negotiating international trade deals, protecting our national security, pushing for solutions to child poverty and climate change, and deftly shutting down her adversaries in Parliament. On the other, she’s the accidental poster girl for female empowerment and equal opportunities who, despite being a global political sensation, seems almost to forget her own status. Case in point, her typical weekday desk-lunch of a salad sandwich – sometimes with a bit of egg if she’s feeling fancy. “Pretty dumb,” she deadpans. Never mind that there are likely a dozen minions at the Beehive who would fall over themselves to pop down the road and get her something more gourmet.

“Usually during lunch, I’m preparing for Question Time,” she offers, instantly conjuring an image of the world’s worst thrice-weekly WIP meeting where one is live-streamed being taken to task by one’s co-workers, with highlights played on the six-o’clock news. Point taken, it’s enough to make anyone lose their appetite. Only, I assume that’s not what she meant. For in that environment, Jacinda is in her element.