By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Swedish environment minister, Romina Pourmokhtari on Thursday brought her baby to an EU meeting, in a barrier-breaking move she said showed it was possible to be both “a present minister and a present mother”.
Pourmokhtari arrived at the ministerial talks in Luxembourg with her three-month-old son, Adam, in a sling with a pram-pushing aide in tow, becoming the latest public figure to shake up conventions around motherhood and work.
“Happy also to be an example of not having to choose between being a present minister and a present mother,” the 30-year-old told journalists as Adam rested on her chest.
“There are many things that make Europe a wonderful place to live. One of them being just this, that we can have the possibility of attending meetings and attending to my child.”
Her French colleague Monique Barbut promptly gave her a baby gift.
An EU official said it was thought to be the first time a baby was brought to one of the bloc’s ministerial meetings.
Across the world, mothers are usually affected by the challenge of juggling work and childcare, with studies showing women tend to miss out on promotions, career opportunities, and higher earnings after having a child.
The European Parliament recently changed its internal rules to allow new mothers the right to vote by proxy, a bid aimed at making the lives of female lawmakers easier.
Pourmokhtari is not the first politician to highlight maternity struggles. In 2018, former New Zealand leader Jacinda Ardern won accolades for bringing her three-month-old daughter, Neve, to the United Nations General Assembly in the first such appearance by a baby in the organisation’s history.
A year earlier, Larissa Waters made Australian political history by becoming the first woman to nurse her newborn baby in the nation’s parliament.
Ardern is still only the second prime minister to have given birth while in office after Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto in 1990.
