New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern Brings 3-Month-Old Child To UN Assembly

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who welcomed her daughter three months ago, made history after she brought her to work at UN assembly hall.

Jacinda Ardern who was at the UN assembly hall for the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit, sat next to her partner Clarke Gayford, and was photographed kissing and cuddling her baby.

Gayford who is said to be the main caregiver for their daughter held the baby, while Baby Neve looked on as her mother addressed the assembly.

“I have the ability to take my child to work, there’s not many places you can do that,” Ardern said, according to the Guardian.

Ardern, 38, became New Zealand’s third female prime minister and the world’s youngest female head of state in October 2017. In her statement at the UN assembly, Ardern praised Mandela, saying:

New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern Brings 3-Month-Old Child To UN Assembly

“If Mandela could make peace, so could the rest of South Africa. That one act of both triumph and reconciliation said so much about who Nelson Mandela was: His capacity to forgive, his commitment to reconciliation, and his ability to lead and inspire against all odds.”
In June, Ardern became only the second sitting world leader to give birth while in office, after former Pakistani prime minister Benzir Bhutto. Ardern said she discovered the pregnancy within a week of her election victory last year. She returned to work from six weeks of maternity leave early last month.

Ardern’s dual roles as mother and head of state have prompted a steady stream of sexist criticism. “I’m not the first woman to work and have a baby,” Ardern told skeptics shortly after announcing her pregnancy.