New Zealand PM Chris Hipkins was addressing a press conference on March 27, 2023, when one of the questions put forth by a journalist left him in doubt and made him speechless. Hipkins stated it to be an 'unexpected question' when he was asked to "define a woman." The video recording of this incident has surfaced online and gone viral.
"How does this government define a woman," words from journalist Sean Plunket can be heard in the footage. It follows with the PM's reaction, who says, "To be honest, Sean, that's question comes slightly out of field for me... Well, biology, sex, gender, and people define themselves. They define their own genders."
The journalist seeks more clarity and asks the PM again by quoting Labour leader Keir Starmer's statement of how he defines a woman -- "99.9 per cent of women don’t have a penis..." Hipkins then says, "I wasn't expecting that question. So, haven't formulated or pre-formulated an answer."
WATCH VIDEO
Netizens react
As the official seemed clueless and a little puzzled to answer that out and define who a woman is, the internet worried: "How can we expect our government and policy makers to protect us and represent us if they can't define us?" A Twitter, meanwhile, shared a meme towards the scenario and wrote, "New Zealand PM Chris Hipkins freezes & says THIS when asked to define a woman; WATCH VIDEO of him answering unexpected question."
