Difference in the reactions between Tony Blair having a son in office and Jacinda announcing her pregnancy

I really don't like getting involved in personality politics but obviously with the news that New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is pregnant it seems everyone has an opinion.

There are the well wishers who have congratulated Jacinda and then there are the naysayers who are appalled that in 2018 a woman should dare to have a political career AND have a child. How dare she?! Remember, back in the later 90s, former Prime Minister Helen Clark was criticised for NOT having children, as was former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

Most comments have gone around in a circle that Jacinda is a liar, that she deceived the public and that she should have waited. Firstly, her reproductive choices are none of our business and given she is 37 and could potentially be in for three terms or nine years, she actually couldn't wait. Those who have been following the story closely will also know that she and her partner, Clarke Gayford had stopped trying for a baby when like many couples she fell pregnant.

Now, I won't repost some of the negative comments but they have been truly appalling and quite honestly sexist and misogynistic. They've revealed just how nasty people are when it comes to women's bodies, and it's not just men who are being critical, it's women as well.

Some people are also trying to mitigate the enormity of Jacinda Ardern's choice to have a baby while Prime Minister but what they don't understand is that in the real world women face the choice between career and children everyday.

Jacinda had questioned these things prior to winning the election and prior to getting pregnant. That's not a betrayal. That's simply her doing what everyone does, questioning what she'd be able to obtain. She thought she couldn't have both.

Now, to prove just how different male politicians who have children while in office are treated, I have dug up an old story from when former England Prime Minister Tony Blair had his youngest son, Leo in office.

This was the headline on the day that former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's son Leo was born. The key phrase is:

"Blair, the first PM to father a child in office since Lord John Russell 150 years ago, will now go into 'holiday mode', the limited paternity leave he first revealed in The Observer last month. His diary has been largely cleared but he will still be at key events this week: a meeting of Labour's NEC on Tuesday, Question Time on Wednesday and the Cabinet on Thursday. Parliament then goes into recess.

The first congratulatory call, other than those from close family and friends, came from, of all people, John Major. Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy led the current politicians' congratulations, saying, 'I am absolutely delighted for Tony and Cherie. The most important thing now is that everyone respects their right to privacy and peace for a decent interval.' "

(source: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2000/may/21/tonyblair.politics)

Amazing how supportive it was. This contrasts with the following commentary.

"Oh please! Giving birth months after winning an election isn't multi-tasking," she wrote.

"It's more a betrayal of voters. It's worse than Damian Green and those porngate claims! At least he could snap his laptop shut if World War III broke out. What will a new mum PM do? Hurry back from [the supermarket], wailing: 'I'm sorry I missed Armageddon, but we'd run out of organic Ella's Kitchen'?"

(source: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11979125 - originally published in the Daily Mail).

This is an extract from a blog that's in progress as we speak, but it's amazing just how much sexism is actually being leveled at Jacinda Ardern.

So my question is, why do we congratulate men for having careers and children; and yet we chastise women for doing the same thing? Why do we call it multitasking yet with men we don't?

There was 18 years between these two news stories. That should indicate just how sexist society still is. Tony Blair's decision to take paternity leave barely got a mention whereas Jacinda Ardern is being criticised for daring to do what men have been doing for centuries.

Gender rights: The negative reaction to Jacinda Ardern's pregnancy

It's not often I defend the Labour Party because as I've started on multiple occasions, I am not a Labour supporter. I am very far right between National and Act, or if we were talking Australian politics I am a liberal or One Nation supporter (I don't yet have voting rights as mentioned in previous blogs).

I do however have to stand up and defend the Labour Party, or more specifically NZ Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern because there has been a lot of criticism towards her for getting pregnant after becoming the Prime Minister in October last year.

A few comments have come up since the announcement that she and her partner, Clarke Gayford are expecting their first child and I want to address each one individually.

Comment: She lied to the public
No, actually she did not lie to the public. Prior to becoming the leader of the Labour Party she was interviewed in Next magazine and she said that she wasn't sure she wanted to lead the party because having a family was important to her and that she wasn't sure could cope with being a parent and being Prime Minister (there was always the assumption that if she became leader, Labour would go on to form the government, which they did in fact do).

She had also been questioned on the 1st of August about her intentions to have a family and she said that the interviewer, TV3 presenter Mark Richardson was out of line asking the question, which he was.

Comment: She shouldn't have taken the job knowing she wanted children 
Hundreds, if not thousands of male MPs and Prime Ministers have children all the time and many MPs and Prime Ministers have fathered children while in office. Nobody has ever questioned their ability to do the job like they do a woman.

She addressed these concerns saying that her partner Clarke Gayford will be a stay at home dad. Therefore she is not actually going to be away from work for long. Six weeks according to the media conference that she held yesterday. This is less than general paid parental leave. In NZ the entitlement for full time employees is 18 weeks. She is only taking six weeks and has stated she will be contactable during this period. Where is the issue in this? You may also recall that National MP Nikki Kaye took a few months out from parliament in 2016 due to a breast cancer diagnosis which thankfully she recovered from.

Comment: She should go and be a mother and not be PM
This one doesn't even make sense. It assumes that only women can look after children and that is simply untrue. Although only a small percentage of men are stay at home dads there is nothing to suggest that men cannot raise their children. After all it does take two. Some say but what about breastfeeding? There are options for that. Jacinda has indicated the baby will be welcome in parliament and the house (I don't think it should be but I believe babies have no place in a workplace) so she can breastfeed. She has also got the option of expressing milk. Clarke and the baby will travel with her while she goes overseas and travels locally. She can do both. Men have been fathering children and working for hundreds of years. There is no reason to suggest Jacinda can't do it.

Comment: Winston Peters will be PM when he wasn't elected
This one is factually incorrect. New Zealand has MMP which means that no single party ever forms government. Coalitions made up of a major party and one or more minor parties is normal and always happens. When National was in parliament the deputy came from the National Party, however Jacinda Ardern signed a coalition agreement that meant NZ First leader Winston Peters would be Acting PM in her absence. This is normal. in Australia the Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce comes from the National Party (a rural party). That is how the government is negotiated.

Those saying that Winston Peters didn't win his seat are showing ignorance. MMP means that there are two votes - the party vote and the electorate vote. Winston Peters and other NZ First MPs got in on the party vote. The idea behind MMP is that no singular party has absolute power. Because NZ has MMP it means that the major party does not ever get 50% which means they have to form a coalition with at least one other party and there is an expectation that the coalition partner will hold senior positions such as the position of Deputy Prime Minister.

To say Winston Peters will be the Prime Minister when he wasn't voted in is not correct. He was voted in by 7% of the population and effectively the Labour Party and the Green Party.

Comment: Jacinda should have waited until after she was PM to have a baby
Again, male Prime Ministers have been having children for years while in office. There is also only limited time for women to have children before their eggs dry up and the fact is, Jacinda's time was running out. She had been advised by medical professionals that she and Clarke may not be able to conceive naturally.

She is also not deserting the job. Taking six weeks maternity leave is well within her rights and the child will have a parent at home full time, plus the baby and Clarke will travel with her regularly so where's the issue?

Comment: She shouldn't have taken on the leadership role knowing that she was going to have kids
It is illegal in NZ to discriminate based on someone's intention to have or not have children. By all means don't support Labour but if you're not going to support Labour do it on their policy platform, not whether or not she will have kids. Again, nobody made a song and dance over John Key or Bill English being parents while in office.

Other high profile people such as Helen Clark have weighed into the debate saying that women should not be forced to choose between children and a career and that discrimination based on whether or not someone is going to have children is illegal. She is right. It has been illegal for a number of years. I have to wonder though, does former Prime Minister Helen Clark  regret not having children? If she could go back would she have had children? Or was she unable to have children? She was criticised while in parliament for not having children but I don't think she ever said whether or not she wanted children.

Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said a couple of years ago that women can have it all but not all at once, and indicated that she had chosen politics rather than children.

The bottom line is, we don't expect men to sacrifice their careers for children, so why in 2018 do we still expect women to? On the flipside, why do we still think men are incapable of looking after children? I hope that Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford will be able to lead by example and that it will become more accepted for women to return to work immediately after having children, and that it will be more accepted for men to take on childcare responsibilities.

Just as it's sexist to expect women to stay at home and raise children, it is equally sexist to suggest that men are not capable of raising children while their wife or partner goes back to work.

Sexism and politics in 2018: Jacinda Ardern announces she's pregnant

The day is the 1st of August 2017. Labour leader Andrew Little has announced he is stepping down and Jacinda Ardern, then deputy, will become the leader.

Immediately she is grilled about her intentions to have a family. TV3 broadcaster Mark Richardson asks her on the morning show if she plans to have children. She is furious about the question saying that while she is happy to answer the question, it is inappropriate to ask it.

 

As you would expect from a leader of a major political party she was polite when answering the question but said that the question was inappropriate in 2017. To give you a heads up, it is illegal to ask ANYONE, male or female what their family intentions are. It breaches their human rights and can lead to undue discrimination. 

Mark Richardson, who asked the question was criticised for doing so by thousands of people on social media and media comment sections.

You can see in the video that Duncan Garner says he had never asked a male politician if they planned to have children. It should be noted that Trevor Mallard, Jenny Shipley, Bill English and John Key all had children while in office. On the flipside, former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and former NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark were criticised for not having children. 

Prior to becoming leader of the NZ Labour Party, Jacinda Ardern made it very clear that she was hesitant to take on the leadership role because she wasn't sure that she could juggle being Prime Minister with having children.

The world media responded to Mark Richardson's question in disbelief that she would be asked a question about her reproductive plans the day she was elected as leader of the Labour Party. You will recall that I blogged back then saying that her partner Clarke Gayford would be a stay at home dad.

Well, fast forward to January 19th 2018 and we have our answer.

Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford have announced that they will be having their first baby in June and that he will be a stay at home dad. Ardern will take six weeks maternity leave (the entitlement in NZ is 18 weeks) before returning back to work. It should also be noted that she has said in today's media conference that she will still be reachable when she is on maternity leave. NZ First leader Winston Peters will be Acting Prime Minister for the duration.

Now let's talk about the implications of Jacinda Ardern being pregnant. The majority of responses have been overwhelmingly positive with people being very happy for the PM and thinking that it is the reality - working parents can have kids. Meanwhile others are not as nice saying she must immediately resign. These people are likely bitter about the election result and looking for any excuse to have a National led government again. Full disclosure: I am an Act and National voter, however I also support gender equality and do not think that having a baby while in office should mean someone is excluded from the top job. Jacinda Ardern has been a role model from the moment she became Prime Minister given her youth.

Getting pregnant in itself isn't news, but getting pregnant while you're the Prime Minister of a country is a huge moment for women's rights in New Zealand and the country really does pave the way for other countries to follow suit, step up and take notice that hey here's a female Prime Minister who is having a child while in office.

In the 1990s girls were told we could do anything but the reality is somewhat different. Even Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop has said that she couldn't have it all. She chose politics rather than kids. Meanwhile former NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark said that women should have the choice to have a career and kids.

Some people say that Jacinda Ardern cannot do it, but remember, she is on a $400,000 salary and has a very supportive partner who will play the role of stay at home dad. They will also travel regularly with her so they won't be separated from eachother for very long. We also need to remember that male Prime Ministers have had kids in parliament as well - John Key, Bill English, Kevin Rudd, John Howard, Donald Trump and Bill Clinton. None of them were questioned about their ability to work AND run the country so being a woman should be no different.

What about women outside of high powered jobs though? Well, working conditions should be more flexible with parents (male and female) able to work from home, flexible hours (as long as you get the work done by X it doesn't matter when or how you do it) and increased childcare centre hours (not everyone works 9-5, shift workers need to be considered).

For all the naysayers, this is a great day for women's rights and shows just how far the country has come since Kate Sheppard first fought for women having the right to vote in 1893.

Congratulations to both Jacinda Ardern and Clarke Gayford. I'm sure they'll be great parents and will be able to provide well for the child.

I hope that businesses in New Zealand and Australia take notice that women are capable of working while raising children, and that men can take parental leave as well.