Office of the Prime Minister of New Zealand via AP
Jacinda Ardern, her partner Clarke Gayford and their new baby in Auckland City Hospital on Thursday.
- Jacinda Ardern, the Prime Minister of New Zealand gave birth to a daughter on Thursday.
- She announced her pregnancy a few months after she took office.
- Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto was the first world leader to give birth in office, in Pakistan. But she didn't take maternity leave, meaning that first goes to Ardern.
- She plans to take six weeks off work, during which time Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters will cover for her.
Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, gave birth to a baby girl on Thursday, and is now the first ever world leader to be on maternity leave while in office.
Ardern plans to take six weeks of leave before returning to office, in which time her deputy, Winston Peters, will be in charge instead.
She has said that she will still be on major decisions, such as issues of national security, and will keep reading briefings while she is off, but will leave the day-to-day running of government to Peters.
AP Photo/Nick Perry
A pregnant Ardern addresses New Zealand's parliament in Wellington in May
At 37, Ardern is the world's youngest female leader, and is the second elected world leader to give birth while in office.
Benazir Bhutto gave birth while serving as Pakistan's prime minister in 1990, in a totally different political climate, where her opponents used her pregnancy as a reason to demand her dismissal. She didn't take any time off after the birth.
Ardern posted a photograph of herself, her partner Clarke Gayford and her daughter on Instagram on Thursday, welcoming her new child: "Welcome to our village wee one."
"Thank you so much for your best wishes and your kindness. We're all doing really well thanks to the wonderful team at Auckland City Hospital," she wrote.
In a statement, she also said: "I'm sure we're going through all of the emotions new parents go through, but at the same time feeling so grateful for all the kindness and best wishes from so many people. Thank you."
Ardern announced her pregnancy in January. She wrote on social media at the time: "We'll be joining the many parents out there who wear two hats. I'll be Prime Minister AND a mum, and Clarke will be 'first man of fishing' and stay at home dad."
Ardern became the leader of New Zealand's Labour Party in September 2017, and was elected prime minister a few weeks later.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark welcomed the birth in an email to The Associated Press and said that New Zealanders had embraced Ardern's decisions.
"This is a sign of our maturity as a country and its acceptance that combining career and family is a choice which women are free to make," she wrote.
"Let's also celebrate Clarke as a modern man who is happy to be the full time parent of a young child."