Undiplomatic gender gap

A few days ago, I had the great pleasure of completing the “44th course on the European Union” organised by the Center d’Estudis Internationals of the UB of Barcelona. The program has a good approach specifically designed for future diplomats, and with a high caliber of speakers, where the challenges and potential of the European Union can be explored from different angles.

Despite being an established and renowned program, the group of selected speakers displayed a clear gender gap. Only 13 out of 41 speakers (31%) were women, of which only one of them performed diplomatic duties as an ambassador. This percentage, although it could a mere coincident, caught my attention, especially because we live in a society where the need and role of feminism[1] is constantly questioned. And it made me wonder, is this program simply a reflection of the reality in which we currently live in the European Union?

Although progress has been made, the participation of women in leadership positions remains very limited. The data shows that in Europe the top tier of main multilateral organisations is overwhelmingly led by men.

After two devastating world wars, the European Union emerged in 1957 as a need to secure eace and stability across (Western) Europe. The principle of equality [2] was established in the Treaty of Rome in 1957. However, it was not until 2000, with the Charter of Human Rights of the European Union (Article 20),when the right to equality between men and women across all aspects of life was enshrined in EU law. Likewise, seven years later, in the Treaty of Lisbon, the principle of equality was included as one of the 20 fundamental principles of the European Pillar of Social Rights.        

In 2019, the current President of the European Commission, Mrs. Ursula von der Leyen, expressed her clear intention to make gender equality a key axis of her Commissions program. This was demonstrated with several innovative proposals, including the Gender Equality Strategy ?2020-2025[3]. However, in this, her second mandate (2024-2029), the President of the European Commission seems to flip over her gender policy strategy once again. Despite the president's efforts, the desired parity clearly remains a paper tiger, since this new team only has 10 commissioners (37%) of the 27 members of the commission, who are proposed by the Member States. Certainly, of the six vice presidents, four fall to women.

Furthermore, the equality competence has been reduced, and included in another commissioner, which means that the relevance of this competence in the political priorities of this mandate has been diminished. This clearly sends a message to Europe and its citizens, although it remains to be seen if this new proposal goes ahead in the coming days. The confirmation hearings take place from 4 until 12 November 2024, where the European Parliament will approve if the candidates are suitable for the posts they have been assigned. We look forward to it!

Furthermore, equality was previously a full competency and is now assigned to another portfolio, so it has lost relevance. This sends a clear message to Europe and its citizens, although we will have to wait if this new proposal comes out ahead. Confirmation hearings will are happening from the  4 to 12 November 2024, where the European Parliament will formally approve the Commissioners and their portfolios.We shall examine the results closely.        

Nonetheless this does not only happen in Brussels. According to the Association of Spanish women diplomats AMDE[4], “In 1975, women represented only 0.22% of the members of the Spanish Diplomatic Career. As of April 2024, women had come to represent 32.5% of the number of professionals performing diplomatic career, with 318 women compared to 661 men. Furthermore, it confirms the exceptional nature of the appointment of women ambassadors in the G7 countries and describes that “there have only been three cases: the US since March 2024, Germany (2017-2018) and Italy (1994-1996). The embassies in London, Paris and Moscow have still never been led by a woman ambassador nor of the Permanent Representations to the EU, NATO and the United Nations in New York.” There are currently 117 Spanish embassies plus 7 permanent representations, of which only 20% are women diplomatic, and as a curious fact and with a touch of humor, of the 24 female diplomats, 13 have María[5] as their first name.

Unfortunately, in other intergovernmental agencies, we face the same challenge. A recent report by GWL Voices [6] makes clear the lack of women at the top of the most important international organisations in the world.

For example, only four women have been presidents of the United Nations General Assembly in its 78-year history.

Perhaps for this reason, the CEDAW Committee (a body of independent experts that supervises the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) has just published a new document called General Recommendation No. 40 on the equitable and inclusive representation of women in decision-making systems[7].

According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the objective of this general recommendation is to guide the States Parties to the Convention on the measures they must adopt to ensure full compliance with their obligations to respect, protect and realise women's human right to equal and inclusive representation in decision-making systems. We will have to wait to evaluate its impact.

Back to the European Union, despite the efforts of members to promote the participation of women in decision-making positions, the balance is still far from being achieved.

The European Union has 27 member states, where their heads of state, or prime ministers, are part of the European Council along with the president of the Council of Europe and the president of the European Commission.

Of these 27 member states, 89% have men leading their countries, in contrast to only 11% that have female leaders (Denmark, Italy and Latvia). And of course, some of the counter-responses or justifications that I have received when I have shared this data have been that some of the most important institutions of the European Union are led by women, the European Parliament (Roberta Metsola), the European Central Bank (Christine Lagarde), the European Investment Bank (Nadia Calvi?o), as well as the president of the European Commission, (úrsula Von der Leyen).         

This is true, but do we really think it is enough? Have we achieved, equality between men and women established by the Charter of Human Rights at all levels and in a transversal way?

Considering that the EU makes up a total of 449,393,996 people[9], of which 51% are women (data shared by Eurostat, 2022), why in 2024 are women still underrepresented in diplomacy?

The European Union recognises that having both women and men in leadership positions is crucial, as they bring different ideas, approaches and visions that help solve the EU's complex challenges in a more innovative and democratic way. So where is the main challenge?

Guaranteeing the principle of merit and capacity in any area can only occur if equal opportunities exist to build fair and egalitarian relationships. However, the obstacles related to patriarchal culture continue to clearly mark us in our access to diplomatic careers and positions of responsibility under conditions of equality. Gender roles, so well swell interwoven into our society and cultural norms, in both men and women, prevent us from carrying out a complete and profound deconstruction. I share with you some real answers that I received during the course when I asked questions about equality and diplomacy in Europe:

-?????? “But Sandra, now women wear more troussers than men, I remember my grandmother dressed in black and with a headscarf... a lot of progress has been made” – Diplomatic man.

-?????? “Sandra, the Diplomacy career is very hard, and until good family conciliation policies are made, women will not be able to access leadership positions” - Diplomatic woman.

Well, we have not made enough progress, even though we wear pants, nor does the lack of real family conciliation policies only affect women. What is clear is that there is still a lot of work to do, and it is not just the responsibility of women.

As the politician, Josep Piqué (politician and economist, 20th Century) stated, “We are not only living in a time of change, but a change of era”; But in the case of equality, this change of era never arrives in its fullness and in some cases, there is even an attempt to go back.

The responsibility for parity is not just a job for the highest levels of the European Union. We are all of Europe and its values must be adopted, accepted and disseminated in any space and corner of the world, from the formation of a team in Brussels to the simple development of a training program.         

There is still a lot of work to be done to rebuild within the European Union, and not only in terms of gender, but also in diversity, and intersectionality with other discriminatory elements such as elitism and classism.

For this, education is a fundamental tool to bring us closer to this long-awaited change, which since the 18th century the great politician and writer Olympe de Gauges demanded with one of her famous phrases “Man, are you capable of being just?? It is a woman who asks you this question”.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Gender_statistics

[2] https://www.ohchr.org/es/treaty-bodies/cedaw

[3] https://www.mujeresdiplomaticasamde.es/la-asociación

[4]https://www.exteriores.gob.es/es/Ministerio/Documents/Embajadores_en_el_exterior.pdf

[5]https://gwlvoices.com

[6] https://campusgenero.inmujeres.gob.mx/glosario/terminos/feminismos

[7] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/EN/legal-content/glossary/equality-between-women-and-men.html

[8] https://commission.europa.eu/strategy-and-policy/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/gender-equality/gender-equality-strategy_en#annual-report-on-gender-equality

[9] https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Gender_statistics