Helen Clark

Helen Clark in 2016

Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008, and was the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017.

Quotes

• Girls can do anything. We do do anything and we expect to be treated as equals.
  • Quoted in David Barber, "PROFILE: Helen Clark, new chief of UN Development Programme," Asia-Pacific News (26 March 2006)

• If ordinary means I have suddenly got to produce a household of kids and iron Peter's shirts, I'm sorry, I'm not interested.
  • Quoted in David Barber, "PROFILE: Helen Clark, new chief of UN Development Programme," Asia-Pacific News (26 March 2006)

• I believe I'm the best person for the job. Obviously I'm a woman, but I've never sought election on the basis of being a woman. I've always sought election as the best person for the job.
  • Quoted in "'I have the skills for the job' - Helen Clark on bid for top UN job" (5 April 2016)

• People weren’t used to the prospect of a woman becoming prime minister so there were attacks about my appearance, my voice and even my clothing. But I found that there was little point dwelling on such criticism. I just had to look straight ahead and get on with the task at hand and, by and large, that strategy worked for me. I think women politicians today are more confident in being able to call out such behaviour than I was at a time when it was very rare to have many women in parliament.
  • Quoted in Gitika Bhardwaj, Helen Clark on why the world needs more women to tackle global crises (8 March 2022)

• The carrot is a happy and harmonious society, the only stick is shame.
  • On the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference goals – Reuters (23 September 2015)
• We have a lot of issues to sort through, most of them because of the pandemic. 11 million girls have not returned to school since 2020 and that’s a problem we should solve. I believe in Women Deliver’s ability to build solidarity and find solutions while sticking to the themes,”
  • Women Deliver delegates on the importance of open dialogue The New Times (July 18, 2023)