Jacinda Ardern: The ‘Politics Of Kindness’ Is A Lasting Legacy

Jacinda Ardern became prime minister of New Zealand in 2017, the same year Donald Trump took power in the US. They could not have been more different: in age and sex, in politics, and in style. Where Trump’s brash, shoot-from-the-hip tweets sparked outrage, Ardern’s human and empathetic approach sought to strike a conciliatory tone. Nowhere was this more evident than with her response to the Christchurch terrorist attacks when she said, “they are us”, embracing the immigrant and refugee communities targeted.

Ardern showed the power of a different kind of leadership, but what will her legacy be? When we talk about leadership in my gender politics classes at the University of Bath one name above all others comes up in discussions: Jacinda Ardern. Ask my students which inspirational political leaders they see in the world today, and Ardern always tops the polls. Ask if they can remember any of New Zealand’s former prime ministers before her and there’s silence.

Jacinda Ardern Legacy

Ardern embodied a new kind of politics, one that has been nicknamed a “politics of kindness”. At the press conference announcing New Zealand’s first lockdown in the face of COVID, she said: “Be strong, and be kind.” During her time in office, these words would become synonymous with her politics and style. She even mentioned the word kindness in her resignation speech.

Such has been Ardern’s political power over the past six years, that the news that she will resign with almost immediate effect was met with widespread surprise as much within New Zealand as it was internationally. I was in New Zealand in 2017 and witnessed first-hand the rise of her leadership - nicknamed “Jacindamania” - and saw how it resonated so strongly with the public.

As a world leader who faced one crisis after another, and balancing the demands of working life for young families, she expressed how she “no longer had enough in the tank” to keep going. Of course, there are some who will claim she stood down before she was pushed, and it is true that Labour in New Zealand is struggling in the polls, although she was still the most popular candidate for prime minister. Compare and contrast Ardern’s departure with Trump being wrestled out of the White House. How many (male) politicians would call time on their own leadership in the way Ardern has done?

Suggested Reading: Why PM Jacinda Ardern's Resignation Is A Game Changer For The 2023 Election?

Her decision to step down is as groundbreaking as the way in which she shaped the job and her leadership style. In times when populist leaders with a hyper-masculine leadership styles took control from Brazil to Hungary, she brought compassion, kindness and empathy to politics.

Her leadership style, and more generally her leadership, inspired many, and in particular women. While gender equality is growing in politics, there are still not many women leading a country, and being the youngest woman prime minister ever, she was an exception in what is generally still seen as a “man’s world”.

In the academic literature on gender and political representation, a distinction is made between descriptive, substantive and symbolic representation. The first concentrates on the number of women in positions of power. The second is concerned with the effect women’s representation has on policy outcomes, that is: do we get different kinds of policy decisions because women are making them? And the third suggests that women politicians are role models for women in society, inspiring them to engage in political activity and discussion and serving to increase political trust.

Her decision to step down is as groundbreaking as the way in which she shaped the job and her leadership style. In times when populist leaders with a hyper-masculine leadership styles took control from Brazil to Hungary, she brought compassion, kindness and empathy to politics.

Her leadership style, and more generally her leadership, inspired many, and in particular women. While gender equality is growing in politics, there are still not many women leading a country, and being the youngest woman prime minister ever, she was an exception in what is generally still seen as a “man’s world”.

In the academic literature on gender and political representation, a distinction is made between descriptive, substantive and symbolic representation. The first concentrates on the number of women in positions of power. The second is concerned with the effect women’s representation has on policy outcomes, that is: do we get different kinds of policy decisions because women are making them? And the third suggests that women politicians are role models for women in society, inspiring them to engage in political activity and discussion and serving to increase political trust.

Hilde Coffe, Professor of politics, University of Bath published this article first on The Conversation.