Gender and Diplomacy

Book excerpt: This volume provides a detailed discussion of the role of women in diplomacy and a global narrative of their current and historical role within it. The last century has seen the Ministries of Foreign Affairs (MFAs) experience seismic shifts in their policies concerning the entry, role and agency of women within their institutional make-up. Despite these changes, and the promise that true gender equality offers to the diplomatic craft, the role of women in the diplomatic sphere continues to remain overlooked, and placed on the fringes of diplomatic scholarship. This volume brings together established scholars and experienced diplomatic practitioners in an attempt to unveil the story of women in diplomacy, in a context which is historical, theoretical and empirical. In line with feminist critical thought, the objective of this volume is to theorize and empirically demonstrate the understanding of diplomacy as a gendered practice and study. The aims of are three-fold: 1) expose and confront the gender of diplomacy; 2) shed light on the historical involvement of women in diplomatic practice in spite of systemic barriers and restrictions, with a focus on critical junctures of diplomatic institutional formation and the diplomatic entitlements which were created for women at these junctures; 3) examine the current state of women in diplomacy and evaluate the rate of progress towards a gender-even playing field on the basis thereof. This book will be of much interest to students of diplomacy studies, gender studies, foreign policy and international relations.