New Zealand’s new prime minister was left struggling for words at a news conference after a reporter asked him to define the term “woman”.

Chris Hipkins, who took over after Jacinda Ardern‘s resignation, was asked to explain how he and his government define the word.

The politician appeared to need some time to think before giving his answer.

“Um… to be honest that question has come slightly out of left field for me,” Mr Hipkins replied.

“Well biology, sex, gender. Um.”

He then paused again before saying: “People define themselves, people define their own genders.”

When pressed further Mr Hipkins said “people identify for themselves”.

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He added: “I wasn’t expecting that question, so it wasn’t something I pre-formulated an answer on. But in terms of gender identity, people identify for themselves.”

JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author who argues that trans women are not women because of biological sex, criticised Mr Hipkins’ response.

Rowling tweeted: “In the interests of balance, someone should now ask women how they define Chris Hipkins”.

The reporter, Sean Plunket, said he was asking the question following UK Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer’s comments at the weekend when he said 99.9% of women “of course haven’t got a penis” as he talked about his stance on whether a person with a penis can be a woman.

Sir Keir added that there is a “very small number” of people who identify as a different gender to the one they were born with who “need legal support and a framework”.

Speaking to NZ media on Tuesday Mr Hipkins said: “I will still read Harry Potter to my kids” and added that he stood by his answer.

“Ultimately, I’m aware that this is a very emotionally charged issue for some people, and as a leader, I don’t want to contribute to that,” he said.

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