At just three months old, she is too young to realise it, but Neve Te Aroha has already made history. Because never before had a newborn been present at the United Nations General Assembly. Credit goes to her mother, New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, who brought her along to the UN on Monday 24 September, where she was due to give a speech at the peace summit named after Nelson Mandela. In the meantime, the baby was looked after by her partner, television presenter Clarke Gayford, who afterwards, amused, shared on Twitter the official pass that had been issued to the little guest.

Clarke Gayford @NZClarke

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Because everyone on twitter's been asking to see Neve's UN id, staff here whipped one up.
I wish I could have captured the startled look on a Japanese delegation inside UN yesterday who walked into a meeting room in the middle of a nappy change.
Great yarn for her 21st.

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Who is Jacinda Ardern, the first mother prime minister at the UN

Jacinda Ardern is the leader who steered the New Zealand Labour Party to victory in the 2017 general election. It was a very difficult electoral contest, won also thanks to the external support of the Greens and New Zealand First, a small nationalist and conservative party. Ardern had already made history on 26 October 2017, when she was sworn in as head of her country's government. At thirty-seven years of age, she was by far the youngest female prime minister in history.

Jacinda Ardern @jacindaardern

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My message for International Women's Day.

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A few months later, on 19 January 2018, Ardern announced her pregnancy and on 21 June gave birth to her daughter Neve. Before her, only Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto had become a mother while in office, in January 1990; just a few months later she was removed following corruption allegations and her party was defeated at the subsequent elections.

Ardern is also the first prime minister ever to take a period of maternity leave, lasting six weeks.

A positive signal for working mothers

Having chosen to breastfeed her daughter, Ardern had to bring her along on the six-day trip to New York. When asked on the Today Show on NBC whether it was harder to govern New Zealand or to handle a 17-hour flight with a newborn, she replied "it's pretty much a tie!" and, with a laugh, recounted how she had apologised to fellow passengers in advance. Ardern will decide on a case-by-case basis whether to bring Neve to official events, depending on how tired she is from jet lag.

Ardern, as reported by the Guardian, has stressed on several occasions that the opportunity she has had — that of raising a daughter while simultaneously carrying out such a demanding and responsible role — is still not the norm today. Her hope is that it will become so in the not-too-distant future, and that her story will serve, at the very least, to spark a change in mindset among people.

Read also: Who is María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, the first South American woman to lead the UN General Assembly

In June, in Canada, media attention was captured by a video showing thirty-one-year-old MP Karina Gould breastfeeding her son in the chamber, while the health minister was debating the bill on the legalisation of recreational marijuana.

Just a month earlier, the United States Senate had unanimously passed a law allowing new mothers to breastfeed in parliament, something that until that moment had been formally prohibited. The measure had been proposed by Democratic senator Tammy Duckworth, who from that moment on was able to bring her second-born, Baby Maile, into the chamber with her.

Opening photo © Don Emmert / Afp / Getty Images