New Zealand’s Prime Minister: Stop idolising a woman for doing her job

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is a woman. So what? She also happens to be an incredible leader who has shown great strength and empathy, writes Kylie Lang. We shouldn’t be so shocked.

Enough of the idolisation of Jacinda Ardern.

I don’t want to dim her halo, but the New Zealand Prime Minister is simply doing her job. Sycophantic adoration from the sisterhood would suggest otherwise.

My social media feed has been choked with memes and comments praising Ardern’s response to the mass shootings in two Christchurch mosques that killed 50 people last Friday.

“Cannot adore and admire her more,” wrote one of my friends on Instagram.

“Can we please have International Women’s Day all over again? What a woman,” wrote another.

MORE FROM RENDEZVIEW: Our leaders should follow Jacinda Ardern’s example

“Besotted”, “in awe”, “brilliant” and “incredible” are among other gushing remarks.

I get it. To a point. But what Ardern is showing very clearly is that her counterparts in other countries, including ours, are spectacular duds.

Here is a leader who has moved swiftly and decisively to comfort her grieving people and tighten gun laws.

And, for what seems like an absolute eternity in politics, her actions match her words. That, right there, is shock value enough.

New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern is making other world leaders look bad. Picture: Hagen Hopkins/Getty

But she has also reached out to Muslims in New Zealand with sincerity and humility — in a way that Pauline Hanson and her spiteful burqa stunt of 2017 couldn’t even begin to understand — and she has refused to dignify the terrorist by using his name, preferring to call him as she sees him, a criminal.

“He may have sought notoriety, but we in New Zealand will give him nothing, not even his name,” Ardern has stated.

All this is pretty impressive stuff, but people have gone wild, elevating the politician to a celebrity.

In the week since the awful happenings shook her nation, and reverberated around the globe, Ardern’s Instagram following has skyrocketed.

MORE FROM RENDEZVIEW: The kids aren’t alright — they’re fed up

At last count she has 437,000 followers, only slightly fewer than entertainer Delta Goodrem (455,000) and more than model Megan Gale (417,000). By comparison, Australia’s PM Scott Morrison has 33,000.

That Ardern has become famous — and a bona fide “influencer” — is not surprising.

Regardless of which way you lean politically, she has proven herself to be a true leader, and not a show pony trying to pretend she’s one of the people.

She has listened and responded. She has shown her mettle.

But I have to wonder, if the New Zealand PM was a man, would we be fawning and swooning?

I doubt it.

How much of people’s new-found adoration of Ardern comes down to her gender? Picture: New Zealand Prime Minister Office via AP

Remember, this is a person who faced misogynist interrogation after being elected Labour Party leader in August 2017 that flat-out suggested she couldn’t be a new mother AND run a country.

Asked how she would set up a government while having morning sickness, the then 37 year old replied: “It’s what ladies do.”

Quizzed over having to “choose” between being a parent and maintaining her career — like men ever get asked that question — she said: “For me, my position is no different to the woman who works three jobs, or who might be in a position where they are juggling lots of responsibilities. You’ve got to take every day as it comes and try and see if you can make the best of the lot you’re given.”

MORE FROM RENDEZVIEW: Political debate has become an ugly mess

Gender aside, the other, and I suggest most critical, driver of the growing Jacinda Ardern fan club is that she continues to wipe the floor with her counterparts.

In many nations, and most notably ours, political leadership has been non-existent for decades.

We’ve endured lots of talk and too little action, we’ve been made a laughing stock on the world stage for our revolving door to The Lodge, and our trust in politicians and democracy has hit an all-time low, according to Ipsos research released in December.

The sight of world leaders leading shouldn’t be as rare as it has somehow become. Picture: Kai Schwoerer/Getty

Back in 2017 — shortly before Ardern was voted in to the top job, as it happens — I wrote a column about the fragility of liberal democracy due to the failure of politicians to connect with voters.

Millennials, in particular, were deserting democracy in droves, according to political scientists Dr Roberto Stefan Foa, of the University of Melbourne, and Dr Yascha Mounk, of Harvard University.

MORE FROM RENDEZVIEW: The most miserable realisation from this rotten week

Dr Foa observed: “Over the period of a generation, the political elites have become very detached from the people. We now have career politicians and we have lobbyists and special interest groups having privileged access to our representatives. So people are justified in feeling frustrated, and in a real sense justified in feeling that Western democracies are less democratic than they use to be.”

Ardern shouldn’t be hero-worshipped for doing her job, but she deserves credit for highlighting two important issues.

People are crying out for strong and genuine leadership, not only in times of crisis but consistently, and increasing the number of women in parliament — not because they’re female but because they’re bloody good — is long overdue.

Kylie Lang is the associate editor of the Courier-Mail. @kylie_lang