Jacinda Ardern says more women 'must be at the decision-making table'

Jacinda Ardern said stronger female representation was needed to drive solutions to the issues that are having a devastating impact on people. Photo / Bloomberg

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is calling for stronger female representation in politics.

In a piece written by Ardern in the Financial Times, New Zealand's third female Prime Minister said it was not good enough for women to just be heard but rather they needed to be at the decision-making table in good numbers.

Ardern referred to her own dizzying rise to power just months after being made leader of the Labour Party.

"The short time frame between these two events was always likely to cause some interest," she said.

"But the day when a female leader becomes so commonplace that it doesn't merit comment – that will be the day when everything really will have changed."

Ardern said New Zealand has been "especially blessed" with a number of female leaders and role models, her own of which included former Prime Minister Helen Clark, who have helped forge a path. She also referred to the fact that women currently serve in the roles of prime minister, governor-general and chief justice of New Zealand.

"But we can never assume that a path that is cleared remains that way — that everything from this point becomes automatically easier for those that follow," she said.

"I'm one of only 12 women who are current heads of government. That's fewer than 7 per cent of all world leaders. Only about 23 per cent of national parliamentarians are women."

Ardern said Labour planned to address this by pursuing its target of women making up 50 per cent of MPs.

"Stronger empowerment of women in the democratic process and government is vital.

"We must have stronger female representation to drive solutions to those issues that are having a dramatic and devastating impact on people, particularly millions of young girls and women. I'm talking about poverty, lack of education, reproductive health, gender equality, pay equity, violence and climate change, to name just some," she said.

Ardern said politics was a place where one could make change, which she planned on doing "in our small corner of the world".

"We have a gender pay gap that sends a message to our children and grandchildren, that as girls they will earn less for no other reason than their gender. That isn't fair, and it isn't right.

"We want to start by weeding out the gender pay gap in our core public service. At the same time, we will lift our minimum wage, knowing that women are over-represented in our lowest-paid sectors."

Ardern also reiterated her plan to tackle child poverty, which she said could hold girls back from achieving their potential.

She said her hope for 2018 was that we continue to make progress across the world so that all females "can learn, prosper and grow, and live with dignity, equality and basic human rights".

"But hope alone isn't acceptable or any answer, nor is carving a path that is left to grow over. There is no room for complacency. I feel a huge sense of responsibility for that, not only at home in New Zealand but as a female leader in the world today."