The BBC admitted on Friday it was wrong to write a headline about Jacinda Ardern’s resignation as New Zealand prime minister: “Can women have it all?”
Outraged commentators have contrasted the BBC’s headline writers. With genderless coverage of male politicians, including Boris Johnson, the thrice-married father of seven. Who stepped down as UK prime minister last year.
One called it “amazing sex”, while others accused the BBC of “corruption”.
The headline was later changed to read: “Departure exposes unique pressure on PM.” The story chronicles Ardern’s life as a working mother of a young child.
“We quickly identified that the original headline was not appropriate for the story and changed it accordingly. We have also deleted the associated tweet,” a BBC spokesman told AFP.
Ardern, 42 – who has steered New Zealand through natural disasters. The Covid pandemic and its worst terror attack – said she no longer had “enough in the tank”.
While Ardern didn’t shy away from discussing the strains of office, she was quick to shoot down sexist lines of questioning.
In November, at a joint press conference. With her Finnish counterpart Sana Marin, a male journalist asked them if they were seeing each other as they were “similar in age and had a lot in common”.
Referring to the former US and New Zealand leaders, Ardern asked “Has anyone asked Barack Obama and John Key if they’ve met because they’re the same age?
