The new Prime Minister Bill English said it will be Paula Bennett’s actions as Minister for Women that count, not her label as a feminist.

As soon as the new prime minister admitted he didn't know what a feminist is, plenty of people on social media volunteered to educate him.

Publisher HarperCollins has even chipped in, with the New Zealand branch offering to post Prime Minister Bill English a copy of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's We Should All Be Feminists.

Hello Prime Minster @pmbillenglish, we've got a copy of this amazing book on its way to you. Merry Christmas! https://t.co/Oy26gDJvHg pic.twitter.com/iwcDcVmcg1 — HarperCollins NZ (@HarperNZ) December 20, 2016

JON REID/SYDNEY MORNING HERALD HarperCollins has sent Prime Minister Bill English a copy of a We Should All Be Feminists, a book by Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

English's declaration came after being asked what he thought about comments from his deputy and newly appointed Minister for Women, Paula Bennett, who said she was a feminist "most days". She went on to say, at times she didn't think about being a feminist when she was "getting on and being busy".

English said he wasn't concerned about whether Bennett was "labelled one way or another" and when asked if he was a feminist, he said he wouldn't describe himself as one.

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"I'm not really sure what that means," he told reporters.

Adichie has a lot to teach him, then. The Nigerian-born novelist and feminist is a recipient of a MacArthur "genius" grant, the O. Henry Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award, among others.

She is also author of a TED Talk, We Should All Be Feminists, which has been viewed more than three million times since its delivery in 2012.

HarperCollins then sent another tweet, saying the book was being sent via Fast Post so it would arrive in time for Christmas.

Abraham Lincoln is said to have warned: "I do not think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday."

It's fair to say English is indeed a wiser man today than he was yesterday. Or at least, he will be after Christmas.