Ruling the Country Without Losing the Self

Abstract

Despite the pursuit of gender equality emphasised by first, second, and third wave feminism, society continues to socially construct women as inferior to men, that their place should be in the home and that they pose a threat to masculine ideals if women do not act or conform to hegemonically feminine traits. So, what happens when a woman is elected to a role generally occupied by men? This is a question set to be addressed in this chapter on Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern. Applying thematic analysis to a series of Facebook videos uploaded to Ardern's Page, this research found that Ardern tended to emphasise what mattered to her, personal information about herself and her work, and what it meant to be a career mum. The themes indicate that in some cases she could speak with her own voice, but that political and societal structures influenced her identity work.