New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern made a male reporter shrink into a ball of shame after he queried her meeting with Finnish Prime Minister, Sanna Marin this week, asking whether the two were united because they’re “similar in age”.
Ardern’s face quickly furrowed into a look of incredulity as the reporter ploughed further into his hole of no return, stuttering about the two leaders’ “common stuff”.
“My first question is, I wonder whether or not anyone ever asked Barack Obama and John Key if they met because they were of similar age”, Ardern said.
“We, of course, have a higher proportion of men in politics – it’s reality – because two women meet, it is not simply because of their gender,” Ardern said.
“We’re meeting because we are prime ministers,” Marin added.
Ardern went further to highlight her’s and Marin’s shared focus, as female leaders, to explore solutions around the “dire circumstances, where we are seeing the most basic of human rights being repressed and violated”, citing Iran specifically as a “good example”.
Marin agreed, saying the pair were standing together on equality “to make sure every woman and girl all across the world will have the same rights and the same opportunities as men”.
Marin is in New Zealand for her first official tour before travelling to Australia later this week. After a bilateral meeting on Wednesday morning, both Ardern and Marin shared their commitment to boosting trade relations and investing in climate change action.
“Our countries are aligned on incredibly important issues – we share a strong commitment to democratic values as the basis for open, tolerant, resilient, equal societies, and to multilateralism and a rules-based order that has underpinned global peace and prosperity since 1945″, said Ardern.