Feminist perspectives on diplomatic practice – a review

Abstract

With the emergence of feminist foreign policies and increasing numbers of female diplomats, issues of gender in diplomacy are gaining scholarly attention. Two recent edited volumes, one by Jennifer Cassidy and the other by Karin Aggestam and Ann Towns, investigate where the women are in diplomacy, the gender of diplomacy and what difference the inclusion of women makes. Contributors to both volumes demonstrate that masculinized norms and practices constitute diplomacy and that women tend to occupy feminized roles. While this is probably unsurprising to feminist international relations scholars, the contributors shed important light on the specific sites of resistance to the inclusion of women and to gender issues. They also make visible women's contributions to diplomacy. Women in these volumes are diplomatic wives, typists, aristocrats, civil society activists and state representatives. Scholars and practitioners of diplomacy would benefit from reading these as companion volumes. Both are accessible to senior undergraduates and offer excellent materials for classes on foreign policy and international relations. The volumes contribute to the development of a research agenda on gender and diplomacy, although they leave some important questions for future scholars to examine. Each volume maps where the women are in diplomacy using cross-national data and case studies. Cross-national data paint a general picture of women's representation , showing that women tend to be underrepresented and concentrated in lower-status roles. The case studies illustrate how these trends manifest differently across contexts. The Aggestam and Towns volume includes case studies from a broad geographical range, including Brazil, Turkey, Japan, the EU and Israel. This is welcome, as studies of gender and diplomacy usually focus on Europe and North America. The authors also examine a diverse range of diplomatic settings, such as the UN, the EU, global economic summits and peace negotiations. This is a valuable contribution to diplomatic studies, which tends to focus more on foreign policy, even though mediation and negotiation reproduce diplomatic norms and practices.