Jacinda Ardern has made history at the United Nations, becoming the first female leader to bring a baby to a meeting at the organisation’s New York headquarters.
The New Zealand prime minister was speaking at a peace summit on Monday and as she’s still breastfeeding three-month-old Neve Te Aroha, Ardern made the decision to travel to the US with her daughter.
Ardern could be seen holding Neve on her lap and playing with her in the General Assembly Hall, before passing the baby to husband Clarke Gayford, who looked after her while Ardern addressed the meeting.
Earlier in the day, Gayford tweeted a photograph of a security pass made for Neve, writing: “Because everyone on Twitter [has] been asking to see Neve’s UN ID, staff here whipped one up.”
“I wish I could have captured the startled look on a Japanese delegation inside UN yesterday who walked into a meeting room in the middle of a nappy change,” he added. “Great yarn for her 21st.”
After the meeting, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric praised Ardern for ”showing that no one is better qualified to represent her country than a working mother”.
“Just 5 percent of the world’s leaders are women, so we need to make them as welcome here as possible,” he said.
Ardern gave birth to Neve in June and took six weeks of maternity leave, returning to work in August.
Gayford is the baby’s primary carer and his travel costs for this trip have been covered by Ardern herself, not the government.
She previously told the New Zealand Herald while her husband will attend some official events during the day trip, “he’s primarily travelling to care for Neve”.
“We are playing it by ear,” Ardern added. “There is no set plan, it’s just whether or not she’s getting enough sleep, where I am for feeds.
“They might be with us a lot, they might just be in the hotel. It depends what the jet lag does to them both.”