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New Zealand’s Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, has announced she is pregnant with her first child.
Ardern, who was sworn in to office in October, said in a Facebook post that she and her partner, Clarke Gayford, are expecting in June.
“Clarke and I are really excited that in June our team will expand from two to three, and that we’ll be joining the many parents out there who wear two hats,” the 37-year-old wrote.
“I’ll be prime minister and a mum, and Clarke will be ‘first man of fishing’ and stay at home dad. I think it’s fair to say that this will be a wee one that a village will raise, but we couldn’t be more excited.”
Speaking to reporters outside her home on Friday morning, Ardern said she would be taking six weeks leave following the baby’s birth.
“I am not the first woman to multi-task, I’m not the first woman to work and have a baby, I know these are special circumstances but there will be many women who will have done this well before I have,” she said.
When questioned by reporters, Ardern said while she didn’t underestimate the challenge of raising a child and running a country, she had a “lot of support” around her.
“And I would say to those people, none of them detected I had pretty bad morning sickness for three months of establishing the government,” she said.
Ardern and her partner said they already know the gender of the baby, but have decided not to reveal it to the public. “There is very little in our lives now that is a secret or is just for us so we’re going to keep it to ourselves,” she said.
Ardern won’t be the first female leader to give birth while in office. Former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto became the first elected female leader to give birth to a child in 1990.