Women in Politics

In past years, women stayed at home to be a full-time housewife and their spouse was the only to work to support their family. But in today’s society women are as active as they have ever been in our workforce. Today, we can see women working in every field such as politics, engineering, science, business and many more. Women have held top roles in politics but I believe Jacinda Arden has broken the new ground in politics. I adore her and her work in politics. She inspired all of us to become a person with full of love, compassion and kindness and a good leader. To be honest, I never really liked any politician but Jacinda is different from other leaders in so many ways. Jacinda has won people’s heart with her leadership style and no wonder why she has become a role model for many people especially youngsters. Let’s talk about her and how she became an inspirational leader.

Jacinda Arden, a New Zealand politician who became the leader of the New Zealand Labour Party in August 2017 and became the country’s youngest prime minister in October 2017. She is also the only second world leader in history to give birth while in office. She spent her first years in Murupara, a small town also known as Maori gang activity, where she saw children without shoes or anything to eat for lunch, inspired to enter into politics. Now, she has introduced new programs to alleviate poverty among children, free university education, reductions in immigration and decriminalization of abortion. She is a progressive, republican, feminist and social democrat. The images of Jacinda Arden with her baby girl at the United Nations in 2018, sent out a strong message to the community about women in leadership role and parents in the workplace. Combination of leading the country and motherhood is an absolute inspiration for many women who are struggling to start a family with the fear that it may impact their career. She is also considered as a leader for a new generation, tired of inaction in the face of issues such as climate change, terrorism. I am sure we have all heard about the Christchurch mosque shooting attack in March 2019. Her actions showed love, empathy and compassion during this crisis. Her support for the victims was something that can’t be described in words. Her way of addressing the issues is completely different from many politicians. She is leading the country with real love, empathy, compassion, understanding, action and unity. She has established kindness as a key principle for government policy, promoting inclusion and social cohesion (Helen Clark, 2019). We have seen in News that New Zealand residents have poured donations for victims, sending flowers and supporting Muslim community, that shows that they have followed their leader’s example.

In 2019, she posted a video on Facebook in which she talked about the achievements Government has made in the past 2 years. People were praising about the narration of two years of her government in just two minutes and were asking their leaders to take the same challenge. One of the twitter users has tweeted, “Absolutely incredible to watch this @jacindaardern video be pinged around the world. In the last 48 hours, it's seemingly gone everywhere from the UK to Pakistan and has even gone viral in Lebanon - becoming another tool for protestors to push for change” (ABC News, 2019). She is setting an example of good leadership skills in politics. She is always politically engaged and passionate to make a difference in people’s lives. She is one inspirational women politician that we need right now to make our countries better. Her passion, energy and optimism will lead New Zealand in today’s fast-growing world. She is inspiring women to go in politics and make difference with empathy, love and compassion.

Resources:

ABC NEWS, 2019 https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-05/jacinda-ardern-facebook-speed-list-new-zealand-achievements/11671918

Helen Clark, 2019, https://foreignpolicy.com/gt-essay/the-kindness-quotient-jacinda-ardern-new-zealand/