As two of the youngest heads of government and among a small percentage of women heads of state, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern and her Finnish counterpart Sanna Marin have long faced questions about their age and gender.
But they quickly gunned down a journalist who was inquiring about the purpose of a Finnish prime minister’s first-ever visit to New Zealand on Wednesday.
“A lot of people will wonder if you’re dating just because you’re of a similar age and there’s a lot in common there,” the journalist said during a joint news conference in Auckland.
Ardern, 42, quickly cut the questioner off.
“I wonder if anyone ever asked Barack Obama and John Key if they met because they were the same age,” she said, referring to the former prime ministers of the United States and New Zealand.
“Of course we have a higher proportion of men in politics, that’s reality. Because two women don’t just meet because of their gender.”
Marin, 37, who is in New Zealand with a Finnish trade delegation, highlighted the country’s growing trade ties.
“We meet because we are prime ministers,” she replied.
She is concluding her visit to the southern hemisphere in Australia later this week.