Jacinda Ardern

Jacinda Ardern
Ardern in 2018
Jacinda Ardern
Born	Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern 26 7, 1980
Birthplace	Hamilton, New Zealand
Nationality	New Zealand
Occupation	Politician, activist
Title	Prime Minister of New Zealand
Known for	40th Prime Minister of New Zealand; response to Christchurch mosque shootings; COVID-19 pandemic response
Education	University of Waikato (BCS)
Spouse(s)	Clarke Gayford (m. 2024)
Children	1
Awards	Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, Order of Merit

Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern, born 26 July 1980, is a New Zealand politician and activist who served as the 40th Prime Minister of New Zealand from October 2017 to January 2023 and as leader of the New Zealand Labour Party over the same period. Entering Parliament as a list MP in 2008 at the age of 28, she rose through Labour's ranks with uncommon speed, becoming deputy leader in March 2017 and leader just five months later when Andrew Little resigned amid historically low polling for the party. At 37, she became the world's youngest female head of government upon taking office. Her premiership was defined by a series of extraordinary events — the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings, the Whakaari / White Island eruption, and the global COVID-19 pandemic — each of which drew intense international attention to her leadership style, characterised by empathy and decisive action. In June 2018, she gave birth to her daughter while in office, becoming only the second elected head of government in the world to do so. She led Labour to a landslide majority in the 2020 general election — the first outright parliamentary majority since the introduction of mixed-member proportional representation in 1996 — before announcing her resignation in January 2023, citing personal exhaustion. Since leaving office, Ardern has pursued academic and public advocacy roles and has been the subject of a documentary film and continued international media coverage.

Early Life

Jacinda Ardern was born on 26 July 1980 in Hamilton, in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island. She was raised in Morrinsville, a small dairy-farming town, and later in Murupara, a rural community in the Bay of Plenty region. Her father, Ross Ardern, served as a police officer and later as the Administrator of Tokelau, and her mother, Laurell Ardern, worked as a school catering assistant. Ardern has described growing up with an awareness of social inequality; the contrast between the relative comfort of Morrinsville and the deprivation she observed in Murupara, a community affected by unemployment and poverty, made a lasting impression on her.

Ardern's political awakening came early. Her aunt, Marie Ardern, a longstanding Labour Party member, introduced her to party politics as a teenager. Ardern joined the New Zealand Labour Party at the age of 17, beginning a lifelong involvement in centre-left politics. She was raised as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but later left the church, citing its stance on homosexuality as incompatible with her personal values.

In interviews, Ardern has spoken about how her father's career in the police and the family's moves between communities instilled in her an interest in public service, albeit one she entered with wariness about what she once described as the "blood sport" of New Zealand politics.

Education

Ardern attended Morrinsville College before enrolling at the University of Waikato, where she studied communication studies, majoring in politics and public relations. She graduated in 2001 with a Bachelor of Communication Studies (BCS). During her time at university, Ardern was already politically active, and her studies provided a foundation for the career in politics and public policy that would follow.

Career

Early Political Work

After graduating from the University of Waikato, Ardern began working as a researcher in the office of then–Prime Minister Helen Clark. This role gave her direct exposure to the workings of government at the highest level. She subsequently moved to the United Kingdom, where she worked in London as a policy adviser in the Cabinet Office during Tony Blair's premiership, focusing on issues including child poverty and social policy.

In 2008, Ardern was elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth (IUSY), a global federation of social democratic and socialist youth organisations. The role required her to travel extensively and deepened her connections with the international progressive movement.

Member of Parliament (2008–2017)

Ardern was first elected to the New Zealand Parliament in the 2008 general election, entering as a list MP for the Labour Party at the age of 28. Labour lost power in that election after nine years in government, and Ardern entered Parliament as an opposition MP. In the 2008 election, she also contested the Waikato electorate but did not win the seat.

In the 2011 general election, Ardern stood as the Labour candidate in the Auckland Central electorate while remaining high enough on the party list to retain her seat in Parliament. She again stood in Auckland Central in the 2014 general election, achieving a strong result but not winning the electorate seat, and returned to Parliament via the party list.

During her years as an opposition MP, Ardern served as a spokesperson on a range of portfolios, including children, justice, arts and culture, and social development. She gained a public profile as an articulate advocate for issues including child poverty and housing affordability. In February 2017, she was elected to represent the Mount Albert electorate in a by-election, securing a safe Labour seat following the departure of David Shearer from Parliament.

Deputy Leader and Leader of the Labour Party

On 1 March 2017, following the resignation of Annette King as deputy leader, Ardern was unanimously elected as deputy leader of the New Zealand Labour Party. This rapid promotion reflected her growing stature within the party and her effectiveness as a communicator. Five months later, on 1 August 2017, Labour leader Andrew Little resigned after opinion polling showed Labour at historically low levels of support. Ardern was elected unopposed as his replacement, becoming leader of the party just seven weeks before the scheduled 2017 general election.

Her assumption of the leadership triggered a surge in Labour's popularity, a phenomenon that commentators dubbed "Jacindamania." The party's polling numbers rose sharply, and Ardern brought a renewed energy and visibility to Labour's campaign. At the general election on 23 September 2017, Labour gained 14 seats, winning 46 seats to the National Party's 56. Although National won the most seats, no party achieved a majority, and coalition negotiations followed.

Prime Minister of New Zealand (2017–2023)

Formation of Government

After weeks of negotiation, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters chose to enter into a minority coalition government with Labour, with confidence and supply support from the Green Party. Ardern was sworn in as Prime Minister by the Governor-General of New Zealand on 26 October 2017, becoming, at 37, the world's youngest female head of government. Winston Peters served as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs in the new government.

Christchurch Mosque Shootings

On 15 March 2019, a terrorist attack on two mosques in Christchurch killed 51 people and injured dozens more in the deadliest mass shooting in New Zealand's modern history. Ardern's response received sustained international attention. She expressed solidarity with the Muslim community, donned a hijab while meeting with victims' families, and declared that the gunman's name would not be spoken by her. Within weeks, her government introduced and passed sweeping gun law reforms, banning most semi-automatic weapons and military-style semi-automatics. The Arms (Prohibited Firearms, Magazines, and Parts) Amendment Act 2019 passed Parliament with near-unanimous support. Ardern also led the Christchurch Call, a global initiative with French President Emmanuel Macron to persuade technology companies to take stronger action against extremist content online.

COVID-19 Pandemic

Throughout 2020, Ardern led New Zealand's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Her government adopted an elimination strategy, implementing strict border closures, lockdowns, and a tiered alert-level system. New Zealand was among the few Western nations to effectively contain community transmission of the virus during 2020, and the strategy was widely cited internationally as a model of pandemic management. Ardern's frequent and transparent public communications during the pandemic, including informal live-streamed briefings from home, became a hallmark of her approach. She described herself as the public's "single source of truth" on the pandemic, a phrase that was both praised for its clarity and criticised by some who saw it as overreach.

2020 General Election

Ardern led Labour into the 2020 general election on 17 October 2020. In the lead-up to the election, she moved the party further toward the centre, promising fiscal restraint and spending cuts during the COVID-19 recession. Labour won a landslide victory, securing 65 of the 120 seats in Parliament — the first time any party had won an outright majority since the introduction of the MMP voting system in 1996. The result allowed Ardern to govern without coalition partners for the first time, although she continued to work cooperatively with the Green Party.

Domestic Policy Challenges

Despite the strong election mandate, Ardern's second term was marked by increasing domestic challenges. The government faced persistent criticism over the New Zealand housing crisis, with house prices rising sharply during her tenure. Progress on her stated priority of reducing child poverty was considered insufficient by critics. Cost-of-living pressures, including rising inflation, weighed on public sentiment. The eventual transition from the COVID-19 elimination strategy to a vaccination-and-living-with-the-virus approach also drew criticism, with some New Zealanders expressing frustration over prolonged restrictions and the economic impact of border closures.

Birth of Daughter

On 21 June 2018, Ardern gave birth to her daughter, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, at Auckland City Hospital. She became only the second elected head of government in the world to give birth while in office, after Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto in 1990. Ardern took six weeks of maternity leave, during which Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters served as acting Prime Minister.

Resignation

On 19 January 2023, Ardern announced that she would resign as Prime Minister and as leader of the Labour Party, stating that she no longer had "enough in the tank" to continue in the role. In her announcement, she spoke about the toll that the role had taken on her personally, noting that political leaders are human and that they should be honest about their capacity to serve. Chris Hipkins succeeded her as leader of the Labour Party and was sworn in as Prime Minister on 25 January 2023. Ardern formally left Parliament in April 2023.

Post-Premiership

Following her departure from office, Ardern took up positions in academia and international advocacy. She became affiliated with Harvard University, working on issues related to leadership, misinformation, and online extremism. She has continued to speak publicly about the pressures of modern political life and the dehumanisation of public discourse.

In 2025, a documentary film titled Prime Minister was released, chronicling Ardern's time in office. The film was screened at events internationally, including a showing at the Glasgow Film Theatre at which Ardern drew comparisons between her own political experience and that of former Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. A review in The Guardian described the documentary as showing "a fully human being in charge for once" and noted its portrait of a leader who operated without "the usual politician's defences."

Personal Life

Ardern's partner is Clarke Gayford, a broadcaster and television presenter. The couple's daughter, Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, was born on 21 June 2018. Ardern and Gayford became engaged in 2019 and married in January 2024.

Ardern has spoken publicly about her decision to leave The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, citing the church's position on LGBTQ+ rights as irreconcilable with her own beliefs. She identifies politically as a social democrat and a progressive.

During and after her time as Prime Minister, Ardern faced an escalation of personal threats and online harassment. In a 2025 interview, she reflected on how "public life has become dehumanized," a theme she has continued to raise in her post-political career. A 2025 article in The New Yorker examined the public backlash Ardern experienced during her final years in office, noting the intensity of hostility directed at her by sections of the New Zealand public, including confrontations in public spaces.

Recognition

Ardern received significant international recognition during and after her time as Prime Minister. She was appointed a Dame Grand Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit (DNZM) in the 2023 New Year Honours, for services to the state.

Her handling of the Christchurch mosque shootings and the COVID-19 pandemic brought her to global prominence and was the subject of extensive media coverage and academic analysis. Time magazine named her one of the world's most influential leaders, and she appeared on numerous international lists recognising political leadership. Her communication style — frequently described as empathetic and direct — drew particular attention and became the subject of study in political communication.

The 2025 documentary Prime Minister provided a sustained examination of her time in office and was received by international reviewers as a nuanced portrait of political leadership. In an interview with the Harvard Business Review in 2025, Ardern reflected on her career and the challenges of balancing effective governance with personal wellbeing, framing political leadership as a form of public service that requires honest self-assessment.

Legacy

Ardern's tenure as Prime Minister is notable for the exceptional circumstances she faced and for the global profile she achieved as a young female leader. Her response to the Christchurch mosque shootings — including the rapid introduction of gun control legislation and the Christchurch Call to combat online extremism — represented one of the fastest legislative responses to a mass shooting in any democracy. The COVID-19 elimination strategy her government adopted was, for a period, among the most effective in the developed world, and it became a reference point in international discussions about pandemic governance.

Her 2020 election victory, which gave Labour an outright parliamentary majority under MMP for the first time, demonstrated the strength of her personal appeal to voters. However, her second term was overshadowed by domestic policy challenges — particularly in housing and the cost of living — that eroded public support and contributed to her decision to resign.

Ardern's resignation itself became a topic of international discussion, raising questions about the sustainability of political leadership in an era of intense public scrutiny, online harassment, and 24-hour media cycles. Her frank acknowledgement that she had run out of energy was seen by some commentators as a rare act of honesty in politics, while others interpreted it as an admission of the limits of her governing approach.

As a woman who became Prime Minister at 37 and gave birth while in office, Ardern's career has been cited in discussions about gender and political leadership. Her post-political work on misinformation, online extremism, and the health of democratic institutions indicates a continued engagement with the issues that defined her time in government.