Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand's 41-year-old prime minister shocked New Zealand citizens and world leaders when she said she would step down by February 7 saying she had “no more in the tank for four more years.” Ardern, the country's youngest prime minister in over a century, became a global icon for women in politics. “Be strong, be kind,” she said throughout her eventful tenure. 

Through her empathetic leadership and crisis management skills, she often masked her government's shortcomings.

Ardern came into the limelight when she brought her baby to a United Nations meeting. Ardern, known for speaking from her heart and smiling, made it go to move to power through adversity. Ardern again shot into the limelight when she wore a hijab after a massacre targetting Muslims. Her handling of the massacre which stemmed from white supremacism got her praise from all around the world. 

Ardern labelled the Christchurch massacre as terrorism. She then imposed a ban on semiautomatic firearms and introduced other gun curbs within weeks of the massacre. She wore a headscarf and met the Muslim community, telling them New Zealand was "united in grief". 

In 2020 Ardern made headlines when she headed New Zealand's most diverse parliament, where over 50 per cent of lawmakers were women and it also had the highest number of indigenous Maori lawmakers.  

She had her share of fall-backs too. A lot of people weren't happy with her approach to Covid-19. When the virus hit, she was one of the first leaders to close borders and pursue a zero-tolerance strategy that kept New Zealanders safe from the virus, holding death rates far below those of other advanced nations, a Reuters report reads. Though her ratings have dropped in recent times over the rise in the cost of living, mortgage rates and growing crime rates, she remains more popular than her rivals. 

Ardern, in December, slipped up when she called a leader of the opposition an 'arrogant prick'. Her comment was caught on the mic. She immediately apologised for the same. Also, last month, Ardern shot down a reporter after he asked whether she and Finnish PM Sanna Marin were meeting because they were women and of similar age. To this, she replied, “I wonder whether or not anyone ever asked Barack Obama and John Key if they met because they were of similar age.”