We finally have a British equivalent of Jacinda Ardern in the form of Anneliese Dodds

But we didn’t spot her because nobody has a language with which to describe her

As we compare the relative success and failures of New Zealand and the rest of the world in controlling the coronavirus, everyone wants their own Jacinda Ardern. But in the UK, perhaps we’ve already got one.

In her handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Ardern proved “tougher than most of the world”: consultative yet decisive, valuing expert guidance even as she exercised her own leadership. Elsewhere, Ardern’s swiftly executed domestic policies on guns, anti-terrorism, and housing are regarded as robust and resolute. A viral video of her speediest achievements demonstrates a chutzpah and grace rarely seen in the circus of global politics.

Meanwhile, the UK Conservative government’s Covid-19 response is marked by indecision, inertia and trembling before corporate overlords. We may well look with longing at Ardern’s resolve. Jacinda Ardern and Boris Johnson could not have been more different in their approaches to the pandemic.

But we do have someone who shares the New Zealand premier’s qualities – the first female shadow chancellor, Labour’s Anneliese Dodds.

Like Ardern, the MP for Oxford East shows that a different response to the crisis is possible. She offers a realistic but fairer economic settlement, where the richest pay their share.

Both Dodds and Ardern have forfeited a portion of their own salary in the name of fairness. Both have had a stratospheric rise, aged 42 and 39 respectively. Both have demonstrated that motherhood is not incompatible with the highest levels of public office.

Alongside her constituency information and parliamentary details, Dodds’s biography on her professional Facebook page describes her as “mum to two little gremlins”. She was amused yet unfazed when one of these gremlins made a surprise appearance in her recent interview with Sky News.

Like Ardern, Dodds is prepared to take on vested interests that preserve inequality. She is the spearhead of EU tax reform. Famed in Brussels for cutting a swathe through cosy lobbyist cultures, she responded to old boy networks and schmoozy dinner invites with a series of brisk breakfast meetings, where those resisting a fairer settlement got served more than waffles.

And like New Zealand’s prime minister, Dodds also collaborates to push measures through. She already managed to persuade the Brussels centre-right to vote overwhelmingly for her tax reforms.

Given that she’s a force to be reckoned with, what is stopping us recognising her statecraft?

Tory attempts to frame the new shadow chancellor as weak and “floundering” relied on gendered stereotypes. The ability to communicate without raising hackles, collegiality – indeed, popularity itself – are seen as political assets in men but as weakness in women. To be “nice” is a curse for female politicians.

Sunak, Hunt and Gove are “charming” and “affable”, yet of Dodds we are asked to question whether she has the “steely grit” necessary to make enemies and get things done.

New Zealand is not immune to these stereotypes. Ardern, we are told, has the necessary “steelier side”, as though women need an added ingredient of metal to succeed as leaders. But toughness is not alien to women. Surviving the patriarchy, let alone getting ahead in politics, demands tungsten in our DNA.

The leadership of Dodds and Ardern is not about adding metal to motherhood (or, for that matter, the arming of aunthood). Rather it represents the strength of politicians who take the time to consider, who consult, who communicate, while still bringing about large-scale necessary reform. That’s tough. That requires exceptional skill.

Ardern’s global popularity during the coronavirus pandemic suggests a pleasing shift in our shared ideas about leadership across the west. At home, that might be a reaction to the looming recognition that the Churchillian posturing of Johnson and his cohort of elite apologists has delivered death in thousands as well as looming fiscal disaster. Meanwhile, Ardern’s decisive collaboration saved her country from the worst of the pandemic, preparing it to reopen with infection rates we can only dream of (and elimination of the virus a very realistic possibility).

And yet, despite her success, we still have no vernacular for women like Jacinda Ardern and no imagery with which to describe them unless it’s through handbag swinging (Margaret Thatcher) or domestication (“Mutti Merkel”). If we viewed male leaders in the same way, Boris Johnson’s circumnavigation of tough decisions would be drawn as the actions of an absentee father of a sick child, handing responsibility to “manny” Dominic Cummings while slipping off on another weekend break.

Yes, we have a woman like Ardern in Britain – but we didn’t spot her because nobody has a language with which to describe her. Women like Dodds and Ardern require a new vocabulary, because they are transforming global perceptions of what good political leadership should be.

Hannah Yelin and Michele Paule are senior lecturers in Media and Culture at Oxford Brookes University