An interview in which New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern was described as “attractive” and quizzed about her baby’s conception has been criticised as “sexist” and “creepy”.
Ardern, who is set to become the second-ever prime minister to give birth in office (the first being Benazir Bhutto, revealed her pregnancy in January, three months after taking office.
She and partner Clarke Gayford, a television fishing presenter, sat down with Australian reporter Charles Wooley for news programme 60 Minutes.
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However, the broadcast on Sunday night rubbed many New Zealand viewers the wrong way. “Much of Wooley's profile was either devoted to the Ardern's impending arrival or fishing questions for ‘the first bloke’ Gayford,” says Stuff.co.nz.
“I’ve met a lot of prime ministers in my time,” Wooley said at one point. “But none so young, not too many so smart, and never one so attractive.”
Questions like “How did a nice person like you get into the sordid world of politics?” were widely criticised online as condescending and sexist.
At times Ardern and Gayford appeared “visibly uncomfortable”, says Stuff.co.nz - and no more so than when Wooley quizzed the couple on their due date before musing: “Why shouldn’t a child be conceived during an election campaign?”
Ardern then “appeared to roll her eyes”, says The Guardian, before clarifying that the election was “done” before she became pregnant, adding: “Not that we need to get into those details.”
Many viewers were equally turned off by the invasive line of questioning:
However, Wooley defended the personal nature of questions on the grounds that the Labour leader’s policy programme “wasn't what Australian viewers were interested in”. He told the New Zealand Herald that the blowback amounted to “Orwellian” thought policing.
Addressing the backlash today, Ardern admitted that being asked about her conception date “threw me a little bit”, but said she had already faced similar questions from the New Zealand press. “It would be going a bit far to say I was somehow offended by it,” she added.
