Iceland and New Zealand currently have women Prime Ministers who are very young and progressive, and notable for a number of reasons. One of them is an environmentalist-feminist and mother of three; the other has just announced that she is pregnant and that her partner will be a stay at home dad when the baby is born. Here is everything you want to know about Jacinda Ardern and Katrin Jakobsdottir.
Jacinda Ardern is youngest female head of government in the world. She became an MP for the first time in the 2008 elections in New Zealand and now she is the country’s 40th Prime Minister at just 37 years of age.
While she believes that there are infrastructure issues relating to immigration, she has spoken about wanting to increase refugee intake. She is a vocal advocate of gay rights. So committed is she to the movement that she left her Mormon faith and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints because it conflicted with these beliefs.
Yes, her partner not her husband (get over it). Something like this would be shocking beyond belief in India; particularly for an Indian woman in public life. Clarke Gayford is a TV presenter trying his best not to be too overwhelmed by his new life in a state mansion and the presence of bodyguards.
She announced her pregnancy via social media. The baby is due in June 2018 and she herself discovered that she was pregnant just a week before assuming office. While she would take about six weeks off after the baby is born, after that, it will be her husband who will be the stay at home dad. As for the fish hook image, that has a symbolic meaning in Maori culture.
She is just 41 and she is the second woman to head a government in Iceland (the first was Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir, who headed the government between 2009 and 2012; the world's first openly lesbian head of state).
Katrín Jakobsdóttir is her country’s fourth PM in two years and now heads a coalition of three parties since November 2017. These three parties are of very different political persuasions: ranging from the conservative to the liberal.
She has three sons aged 12, 10 and 6. She belongs to a family of people who are prominent in Icelandic literature, politics and academia.
Not only is she a strong advocate for gender equality, she is in favour of her country taking in more refugees and wants to step-up the efforts to counter climate change. She has been the chairperson of the Left-Green movement of the country since 2013.
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