Jacinda Ardern Bombarded With ‘Trite’ Questions Over Her Maternity Leave

Published on14th May 2018 at 12.48pm

Since Jacinda Ardern announced her pregnancy, she has faced a barrage of inappropriate media questions that often cross the line into sexism. This was no different during a press conference on Thursday where she announced her maternity leave plans, only necessary because of the intense media attention her pregnancy has gotten in New Zealand.

Releasing a letter that detailed the terms of her maternity leave, she announced that she would take six weeks leave, during which time deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters will be acting Prime Minister. This practice is no different from if she were to take any other leave, however journalists at the press conference couldn’t seem to accept this line and continued to interrogate her about the details.

Dubbing the letter a ‘behave yourself’ contract, one journalist ironically asked why it was necessary in the first place.

‘That is absolutely not what this is,’ Ardern replied. ‘This is a response to the interest the media has shown in what is otherwise a usual routine practice of a deputy prime minister taking the lead when a prime minister might, for instance, be offshore. It’s just simply this a slightly longer period than otherwise might be as per usual.’

Pressed on whether or not this was ‘unprecedented’, she continued, ‘The media interest in something that’s quite common is a little more unprecedented. Of course, also the fact I’m having a baby while in office is. The actual activity of the deputy prime minister taking on the acting role is not unprecedented.’

However, the press were convinced this was unprecedented territory, and continued to ask Ardern a series of questions about the leave to which she only had one response. The question and answer session went as follows:

Journalist: ‘Will Mr. Peters be running a post cabinet press conference like this?’

Ardern: ‘We expect that we’ll keep on the usual practices that we have in the past.’

Journalist: ‘Will he move to the ninth floor?’

Ardern: ‘That seems like an unnecessary inconvenience! And no. And just as he wouldn’t if I were overseas for an extended period of time undertaking government business ... By and large everything will continue to function as we currently do.’

Journalist: ‘Will he be sworn in as prime minister?’

Ardern: ‘No. No. Because of course that’s not what happens when the deputy prime minister is acting prime minister. That is not required, and as I say, it is as per the usual circumstance where I would be offshore or unable to perform duties at the time.’

Journalist: ‘So constitutionally, you effectively remain the prime minister while this process takes place?’

Ardern: "Yes, and he is the acting prime minister. And there is already, as set out in the cabinet manual, guidelines for how this operates and it does not require any formal swearing in for him to act as acting prime minister.”

The intense line of questioning has been picked apart by onlookers, with deputy Prime Minister Peters describing them as ‘trite’.

It isn’t the first time the media in New Zealand has barraged Jacinda Ardern with intense, seemingly unnecessary questions over her pregnancy. In February, her 60 minutes interview was condemned for how sexist the questions were, with Australian journalist Charles Wooley commenting on her attractiveness, questioning her on the conception of her child and describing himself as ‘smitten’ with her.

It seems that members of the New Zealand press are determined to make a story out of the fact a woman is having a baby while at work, as if it’s not something women do every single day across the world. While it doesn’t sound as if it’s very harmful, the scrutiny not only serves as further reminder that women face much more intense questioning over having children than men do, especially when they’re in senior leadership positions.

Considering women lacking senior positions is one of the key factors revealed as problematic by the recent UK government gender pay gap study, the attention proves how archaic our attitudes are across the globe, and how they continue to stand in the way of women who want to progress in the workplace.