Female ambassadors discuss women’s place in diplomacy

Two women diplomats —Ambassadors Lisa Stadelbauer (Canada) and Barbara Joziasse (Netherlands) — testified at a Ladies Night event organised jointly by the Quill Press Club and the US Embassy’s Women Journalists Mentoring Program (WJMP).

Currently, Harare is host to 12 female heads of diplomatic missions (two of whom are Charge d’Affaires).
“Women are good at diplomacy because they tend to be less confrontational by nature, and they tend to be amenable to what we can call win-win situations,” said Stadelbauer, who heads the Canadian Embassy in Harare.

“By this I don’t mean by any means that women are soft or they are pushovers — you still have to have a bit of backbone to pull in this game.
“I mean we have a different approach than men to settle conflicts and in finding creative problem solving,” said Ambassador Stadelbauer, who has served in her country’s Foreign Service for 23 years.

Until 1947, she said, her country did not allow women to write the Foreign Service exam which is the gateway to diplomatic postings.
She said between 1947 and 1971, women were allowed to write the exam but were asked to retire or change occupations if they got married. Currently, women make up 35 percent of ambassadorial postings in the Canadian government.

“The Netherlands is not ideal either,” said Ambassador Joziasse.
“When I look at women’s issues, there are still a lot of things to be done. At my level, 15 percent of the employees are female.

“It’s not good enough and we are working on it.”
She also highlighted research that indicated that on average in the Netherlands men are paid 18 percent more that women for the same jobs — a situation she said was not justifiable.

Ladies Night at the Quill Club are held monthly and are designed to promote the participation of women journalists and speakers in the traditionally male dominated press club.

The platform, which was a belated commemoration of Women’s History Month (March), gave the women diplomats an opportunity to comment on various subjects including media freedom, representation of women in the media, and how women can rise to leadership positions.

Ambassador Stadelbauer highlighted some challenges faced by women diplomats.
“It is very, very difficult as a woman to find a good partner who will quit their life and follow you around.

“Some of my very dearest friends in the Foreign Service are still single,” she said.
“I got lucky before I even joined the Foreign Service and that could have been the key.

“It’s challenging to be a mother in this career,” said the Canadian Ambassador, who is a mother of two girls.
She said her country had some of the most generous maternity and paternity leave provisions. Canadian diplomats can take one year paid maternity leave.

“It’s put some operational challenges on our department, but I think it is the right move,” said Stadelbauer.
However, she noted, this has meant that women choose postings where day-care is more readily affordable and available.

Ambassador Joziasse challenged women to start taking themselves seriously and to claim their space; but also encouraged them to choose their battles.
“Take yourself seriously, but not overly seriously because you get into a situation that you start fighting battles that are not worth fighting for,” advised the Ambassador. — ZimPAS.