Watch: New Zealand PM Unable to Define ‘Woman’, Saying ‘People Define Themselves’

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND - JANUARY 25: New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins speaks to m
Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
Kurt Zindulka

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has become the latest Western leader to be stumped by the simple task of defining what a woman is during a press conference this week.

Despite replacing New Zealand’s third female prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, in January of this year, current left-wing PM Chris Hipkins was seemingly unable to give a coherent answer as to what constitutes a woman.

During his weekly post-cabinet press conference, Hipkins was questioned by broadcaster Sean Plunket about how he and the government defines “woman”.

In a stumbling answer, the New Zealand leader said: “Um… to be honest Sean, that question has come slightly out of left field for me.”

After a significant pause, Hipkins finally said: “Well, biology, sex, gender, um… People define themselves, people define their own genders.”

Plunket went on to cite UK Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer’s comments, in which the left-wing leader of the opposition said that 99 per cent of women do not have penises. “And I know it’s a strange thing for him to say, but given recent events in New Zealand, I’d ask again, how do you define what a woman is?” Plunket asked.

“Well, as I’ve just indicated, I wasn’t expecting that question so it’s not something that I’ve you know, formulated, preformulated an answer on,” Hipkins replied. “But in terms of gender identity, I think people define their gender identity for themselves.”

The inability, or unwillingness, of Prime Minister Hipkins to define what is a woman is reminiscent of an incident which is widely credited with bringing down the locally-devolved government of far-left former First Minsiter of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon.

During an interview in February, the then-Scottish National Party leader was likewise left stuttering when pressed if a convicted male rapist who claimed to be transgender should be classified as a woman.

As a result of legislation passed under the government of Jacinda Ardern in 2021, New Zealanders are now entitled to change the sex on their birth certificates without needing to provide evidence of having received medical treatment for gender dysphoria or make the case in front of a court as to why a gender change is necessary.

Follow Kurt Zindulka on Twitter here @KurtZindulka

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