Three-month-old Neve Te Aroha from New Zealand is one lucky baby. Not only is her mom the prime minister of the country, but she also got to be the first baby to attend a United Nations General Assembly, in her mother's arms of course.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has made history by taking her newborn baby to the UN assembly. Before delivering a speech at the Nelson Mandela Peace Summit on Monday evening, the mom played with her cute three-month-old daughter. Ardern's partner Clarke Gayford held the baby on his lap as she addressed the assembly.
Neve was born on June 21, and within six weeks Ardern was back in office. Though she is not the first woman to have a baby while being a prime minister—former Pakistan prime minister Benzir Bhutto was the first—Ardern made history by becoming the first female world leader to attend the assembly with a baby in tow.
Neve will be travelling with her mom as she is still being breastfed. The trip to New York was her first international trip. While her mom is busy meeting world leaders giving speeches, Neve plans to cuddle close to her daddy, her primary caregiver and a fishing television presenter.
Though recent changes made in New Zealand's rules allow the prime minister to cover the travel with a nanny on overseas assignments with taxpayer's money, the tickets for Gayford were paid out of her own pocket, Ardern said.
Gayford, on Monday, posted a photo of Neve’s security pass on Twitter, which reads “first baby”.
He added: “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. Great yarn for her 21st (birthday).”
Because everyone on twitter's been asking to see Neve's UN id, staff here whipped one up.
— Clarke Gayford (@NZClarke) September 24, 2018
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.
Great yarn for her 21st. pic.twitter.com/838BI96VYX
This was Ardern's debut speech at UN where she highlighted the former South African leader's "profound impact" on her country. She vowed to end child poverty and make New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child.
Ardern has been a strong advocate of working mothers. “I have the ability to take my child to work; there’s not many places you can do that. I am not the gold standard for bringing up a child in this current environment because there are things about my circumstances that are not the same,” Ardern said. She said she hopes that one day, things will become easier for all women who want to balance a career and parenting. “If I can do one thing, and that is change the way we think about these things, then I will be pleased we have achieved something,” she added.
