Weekend Woman's Hour: Jacinda Ardern, Women leaving teaching, Friendships with exes

Dec 6, 2025

Guest

Jacinda Ardern

Jacinda Ardern, former Prime Minister of New Zealand, discusses her journey in leadership, including the unique challenges of being a mother while in office. Sarah Vine opens up about her battle with female pattern hair loss and her brave decision to reveal her natural hair after years of wearing wigs. Emma Shepherd highlights alarming data on teachers leaving the profession post-maternity, addressing the impact of pay, workload, and inflexible hours. Conversations also delve into the complexities of friendships with ex-partners in both straight and queer communities.

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ADVICE

Make HIV Testing Routine And Private

Normalise routine HIV testing by offering it in common sexual-health contexts like GP contraceptive and smear appointments.
Make testing accessible and private, for example via ordering kits on the NHS app to break down stigma barriers.

INSIGHT

Empathy And Decisiveness Can Coexist

Jacinda Ardern says leadership can combine empathy with decisiveness and that humanity in leaders is expected, not a weakness.
She argues humility and curiosity are strengths that improve governance amid polarized politics.

ANECDOTE

Hiding Pregnancy While New In Office

Jacinda Ardern revealed she hid her pregnancy for 20 weeks while new in office and managed severe morning sickness privately.
Her husband filmed domestic moments organically, later forming material for an intimate documentary.

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When Jacinda Ardern became Prime Minister of New Zealand in 2017 at the age of 37, she was the youngest female head of government in the world. She also made history as only the second elected leader to give birth while in office. She resigned in 2023 after more than five years in post saying she no longer had enough in the tank and, since then, has engaged in global work focused on empathy in leadership and the prevention of online extremism. As a new documentary film, Prime Minister, is out in cinemas now, Jacinda talks to Kylie Pentelow.

The government has just unveiled its new HIV Action Plan with the stated goal of tackling stigma and to end transmissions in England by 2030. Public Health Minister Ashley Dalton discusses the policy along with Ellie Harrison, who was diagnosed HIV positive when she was 21.

Are friendships with exes a bad idea or a sign of growing up? Journalist Olivia Petter and comedian Rosie Wilby join Nuala McGovern to explore how relationships with ex-partners evolve after a breakup, and why staying in touch can look different in straight and LGBTQ+ communities.

Columnist Sarah Vine started losing her hair as a teenager and was eventually diagnosed with female pattern baldness, a hormonal condition. But now she has decided, after 15 years of wearing wigs, to reveal her own hair on the front cover of a national newspaper. She speaks about her decision to bare all.

We examine new data that reveals the number of teachers leaving the profession after becoming parents. We explore why, and what’s being done about it. Emma Shepherd is the founder of the Maternity Teacher Paternity Teacher Project and Branwen Jeffries is the BBC's Education Editor.

Do you like everything to be perfect for dinner party hosting – the spotless house, the elaborate menu, the Instagram-worthy table setting? But what if the secret to a great dinner party isn’t perfection, but scruffy hosting – a trend that is apparently transforming the way we gather together and makes stress-free dinner parties more attainable - perhaps a one-pot dinner, mismatched cutlery, toys under the table or children running around screaming. Helen Thorn, Comedian, Podcaster and one half of Scummy Mummies tells Nuala why she embraces this type of hosting.

Presenter: Kylie Pentelow Producer: Dianne McGregor