Jacinda Ardern is the Prime Minister of New Zealand and the leader of the New Zealand Labour Party. She was first elected as a Member of Parliament to the House of Representatives in 2008. When she was sworn in as Prime Minister on October 26, 2017, she became the youngest female head of government at the age of 37. Her adept handling of the Covid-19 pandemic since it started in December 2019 has been lauded by many as an example of quality leadership during a crisis. New Zealand was one of the first countries to be declared Covid-free and had the lowest number of cases at one point.
Jacinda was born on July 26, 1980 in Hamilton, New Zealand. Her father Ross Ardern was a police officer and her mother Laurell Ardern was a school catering assistant. Jacinda graduated from the University of Waikato in 2001 with a Bachelor of Communications Studies in International Relations and Professional Communication. She commenced her career working as a researcher in the office of Prime Minister Helen Clark. She also worked for some time in London as an adviser in the Cabinet Office of Tony Blair, the then Prime Minister of the UK.
Ardern was introduced to politics at the age of 18, by her aunt Marie Ardern, a veteran of the Labour Party. In later years Ardern became only the second elected head of government to give birth while in office (after Benazir Bhutto). Her daughter Neve Te Aroha was born on June 21, 2018.
Forbes Magazine listed her one of the 100 most powerful women in the world in 2019. She was short-listed for Time’s 2019 ‘Person of the Year’. In 2020, she was listed by Prospect as the second-greatest thinker for the COVID-19 era.
In May 2021, Fortune magazine placed Ardern at the number one spot on their list of the world’s greatest leaders, citing her leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as her handling of the Christchurch mosque shootings in March 2019 and the White Island volcano eruption in December 2019.
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