New Zealand

Ardern says she slept soundly ‘for the first time in a long time,’ as colleagues in New Zealand deplore her treatment as PM and race begins to replace her

Jacinda Ardern has said she slept soundly after her shock resignation “for the first time in a long time”, as speculation grows that abuse and threats against the prime minister contributed to her stepping down.

Jacinda Ardern is quitting as New Zealand prime minister ahead of this year's election saying she no longer has "enough in the tank" to lead.

The shock announcement comes as polling indicates her Labour Party party faces a difficult path to re-election on 14 October.

Ms Ardern choked up as she detailed how six "challenging" years in the job had taken a toll.

Finland’s PM says she met Ardern in New Zealand because they are both ‘prime ministers’ after journalist asks whether it was due to similar age and gender.

The prime ministers of Finland and New Zealand have taken a swipe at suggestions their first face-to-face meeting in New Zealand happened because they are both young female leaders.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says New Zealand has an “even stronger” footing to speak on gender equality as lawmakers past and present celebrated Parliament becoming one of few in the world to be the majority women.

New Zealand made history — or herstory — this week as female lawmakers became the majority, narrowly outnumbering their male counterparts in Parliament for the first time.

On Tuesday, Soraya Peke-Mason was sworn in as a lawmaker for the Labour Party, tipping the country’s legislative body to 60 women and 59 men.

Led by Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand women are entering uncharted territory in politics – and encountering increasing levels of abuse

In January 2020, a New Zealand man sent two emails to prime minister Jacinda Ardern: one threatening to “personally wipe [her] off this fucking planet” and another saying he would blow her head off. It was the violent culmination of 88 lengthy emails sent over a four month period to government officials in which he referred to them as criminals and terrorists.