New Zealand's Prime Minister has become the first Western leader ever to be pregnant in office

Hannah Peters/Getty

Jacinda Ardern holds a press conference after announcing her pregnancy alongside her partner Clarke Gayford.

• New Zealand's Prime Minister announced her pregnancy.
• Jacinda Ardern is expecting a child in June, after which she plans to take six weeks off.
• She becomes the first Western leader ever to be pregnant in office.

New Zealand's Prime Minister is pregnant - becoming the first Western leader ever to be pregnant in office.

Jacinda Ardern, 37, announced the pregnancy on Friday by posting a photo of three fishing hooks, in a reference to her partner Clarke Gayford's fishing TV show, on her social media accounts.

The expectant mother wrote in her caption: "We'll be joining the many parents out there who wear two hats. I'll be Prime Minister AND a mum, and Clarke will be 'first man of fishing' and stay at home dad.

"I think it's fair to say that this will be a wee one that a village will raise, but we couldn't be more excited."

Ardern told reporters in Auckland later on Friday that she was expecting her baby in mid-June, after which she would take six weeks of maternity leave. The country's deputy prime minister, Winston Peters, will take her place during that time.

She said: "I am not the first woman to work and have a baby. I know these are special circumstances but there are many women who have done it well before I have."

Ardern will, however, become the first Western world leader ever to give birth in office, and the second worldwide. The first sitting political leader to give birth in office was former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, who had a daughter in 1990, according to the BBC.

Ardern added that she found out about the pregnancy in mid-October - six days before she was confirmed as Prime Minister after last year's elections.

When asked by a reporter how she has managed to navigate between serving as Prime Minister and dealing with morning sickness, she said simply: "It's what ladies do."