9Hur 1 essay: Why Jacinda Ardern is an influential NZ Leader

 Why jacinda Ardern is an infuential NZ Leader  

I chose Jacinda Ardern as an influential NZ Leader, one of the reasons is that she is NZ’s youngest head of government in the last 150 years. She joined the Labour party at the age of 17 and has become the head of the party in 2017.  She is influential to many people because of the things she has done throughout her time being in the Labour Party.

She is the second in the world to become a mother while still in office. Usually, mothers take longer than a few months after they give birth to their child, sometimes even a year but not Jacinda, she went back to the office 6 weeks after giving birth.  The majority of women in office already had their kid(s) before becoming a leader but balancing being a mother to an infant and leading an entire country can be very difficult, that just shows how devoted she is to her job. 

Jacinda Ardern got global praise because of how she handled covid-19 and being crowned “best responder”.  Her having a strict lockdown resulted in New Zealand being a covid free place despite the two waves that accrued. She handled it so well she even shared some tactics with Joe Biden on how to deal with covid.  As you can see she has done so much to keep us safe and covid free. 

A lot of people supported her even more because of what she did during one of New Zealand’s Darkest day’s which was the mosque attack. She empathises with people not just sympathise with them, she showed she cared about everyone, not just the people who were born here but different nationalities and beliefs, Jacinda didn’t just say “thoughts and prayers'' like any other leader or person but she hugged the people who were affected and wore black clothing when she came to meet the people who were affected and even wore a headscarf. I think that’s why she is such a great leader, she is not only compassionate about others but also shows that she cares and she finds common ground with diverse groups of people. She tells everyone is welcome here in New Zealand. 

Overall you can tell Jacinda Ardern isn’t the type of leader to sit around and say “thoughts and prayers ' when something is happening, she is not only empathetic but compassionate.  Her taking action quickly lets us go back to “normal” but those aren’t the only things she’s done and accomplished, she is the world's youngest female head of government. She became the second woman to be elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth which is the world's largest international political youth organisation and At 28 years old she joined The House of Representatives as the youngest member. These are the types of things that I think make a good leader and it so happens that Jacinda Ardern has done these things and has proven that no matter the age you can be an influential leader.