Antonella Baccaro (photo by Carlo Furgeri Gilbert).
«Jacinda Ardern resign: can women really have it all?». With this headline, then hastily cancelled, the multi-bladed British public television BBC raised the issue of the resignation of the New Zealand premier.
Ardern left nine months before his second term expired for a declared form of depletion of “energies”announcing that he will not run again for a third time.
“Can women really have it all?” it was the headline chosen by momentum from the BBC. Apologies followed for the inappropriateness of the cut chosen for the news. But the theme exists and the code of political correctness cannot prevent us from seeing it. And then, let’s talk about it.
Ardern resigns because he says he can’t take it anymore. The theme therefore is the broader one of power and its management: the former prime minister admits that in five and a half years he has exhausted his strength and that it would not be appropriate to propose again.
Above all, it would not be right for the country: «A great responsibility is connected with such a privileged role. That of knowing whether or not you are the right person to drive» writes Ardern.
I’ve heard an admission of this type on other occasions, but generally it hid unmentionable reasons for withdrawing, such as upcoming judicial investigations or other more or less emerging scandals. In this case, at the moment, there seems to be nothing similar behind it.
That admission therefore goes down in history because it signals a different attitude towards power, opposite to that enunciated by Andreotti’s motto: “Power wears out those who don’t have it”.
Instead it wears out, just as certain rhythms of work wear out that individuals no longer accept, which explains the growing number of resignations from work: in Italy over 1.6 million in the first nine months of 2022 (+22 percent over the same period of 2021).
To the question, legitimate in my opinion, from the BBC, the answer is therefore that “having everything” is not just a problem for women: reconciling work and private life is a theme that has overcome gender issues to perhaps become the theme of the century.
Work changes but so does our attitude towards life’s priorities. And it’s actually not a bad thing. Jacinda’s withdrawal aside.
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