The day after Jacinda Ardern announced she would not stand for another term as New Zealand Prime Minister due to lack of reserves, the BBC admitted using an “inappropriate” title in an article about her resignation. The New Zealand leader announced on Thursday she would step down from her posts in early February after five and a half years in power at the age of 42 as she considered “not having the energy anymore” to seek a new mandate.
The BBC World channel covered the announcement and then published an article on its social media entitled: ‘Jacinda Ardern resigns: can women really have it all? The wording caused an uproar on social media, with many netizens denouncing gender bias.
“In which world do you live? ‘ asked one angry surfer on Twitter. “It’s a shame @BBCWorld,” said another, adding, “Jacinda Ardern was a longtime leader and international heroine. Thanks to her, many other women have greater ambitions and will have greater success. She did everything. »
“We quickly realized that the original title wasn’t appropriate and changed it. We have also deleted the tweet linked to the article, a BBC spokesman told AFP this Friday.
VIDEO. Jacinda Ardern announces that she will step down as Prime Minister next February
As the youngest member of the Kiwi Parliament, Ardern enjoyed meteoric rise within the Labor Party. She took office in October 2017 and led a coalition government. Three months later, she announced that she was pregnant with her first child. She will take her maternity leave the following summer. Neve, 3 months, is the first baby to attend the United Nations General Assembly in September 2018, listening to her mother give a speech in her father’s arms. Three years after coming to power, Ardern won more than 50% of the Labor Party vote and an absolute majority of seats in Parliament, a first since 1946.
During her tenure, the leader faced the country’s worst attack ever, the killing of 51 Muslim worshipers at two Christchurch mosques by a white supremacist in 2019. After the massacre, she banned semi-automatic weapons and is proposing buying tens of them Thousands of guns in circulation. She has also always refused to give the name of the man who committed the attack, Brenton Tarrant. She was then faced with a particularly deadly volcanic eruption.
Hugely popular overseas, where she has graced the covers of Vogue and Time magazines, she has also long enjoyed record popularity in New Zealand, where she is sometimes dubbed ‘Jacindamania’ in the media. His management of the pandemic, initially hailed as exemplary and very instructive, stumbled over its duration, with restrictions only being lifted drop by drop.