Inspiration for this topic has been gained from an article published in Doha Times in March 08.

Pakistani women diplomats shine in EuropePublished: Sunday, 9 March, 2008, 029 AM Doha Time

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani women diplomats are steadily gaining prominence in key world capitals, most notably in the European bloc where they hold key positions in leading EU member states.
A survey of the current postings of women officers belonging to the elite Foreign Service of Pakistan shows that they are not only in charge of a couple of important divisions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs but are also heading major diplomatic missions abroad.
Currently 11 women diplomats are serving as Pakistani ambassadors in key world capitals. Nine of these are in European countries including the UK, France, Italy and Spain while two are posted in Mexico and Zimbabwe.
Another career officer, Seema Naqvi, presently director general of policy planning at the headquarters, has also been given the green light for her first ambassadorial assignment in Egypt recently.
One reason for the unprecedented number of women envoys is that a large number of these officers have reached the level of seniority required for ambassadorial posts, say diplomatic sources. However, credit is also due to for this foreign secretary Riaz Khan and his predecessor Riaz Khokhar.
With the exception of one political appointee, Dr Maleeha Lodhi, a journalist-turned-diplomat, posted as high commissioner to the UK, all other serving Pakistani women envoys belong to the Foreign Service.
Nonetheless, Lodhi is recognised and acknowledged as an accomplished professional who also has the rare distinction of being Pakistan’s longest serving ambassador to the US.
Pakistan’s women ambassadors from the Foreign Service cadre are: Fauzia Abbas (Denmark), Asma Anisa (France), Tasnim Aslam (Italy), Naghmana Hashmi (Ireland), Zehra Akbari (Mexico), Seema Baloch (Poland), Fauzia Sana (Portugal), Ayesha Riaz (Switzerland), Humaira Hasan (Spain) and Riffat Iqbal (Zimbabwe).
Tasnim, who was also the first woman diplomat to serve as the Foreign Office spokesperson – she did it for two years till October 2007 – was the last woman career officer to be given an ambassadorial assignment in a European country.
She also became the first Pakistani woman diplomat to be appointed as ambassador to Italy, one of the more challenging posts in Europe.
“It is for substance, not soft image that we are sending her as ambassador,” former foreign minister Khurshid Kasuri had declared in response to the Italian ambassador’s remark at her farewell dinner in Islamabad that Tasnim would project the ‘soft image’ of Pakistan.
Another outstanding career officer posted in Europe is Tehmina Janjua who is the deputy permanent representative to Pakistan’s Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva. Also, in The Hague Mission Kehkashan Azhar occupies the number two slot.
A Pakistani diplomat who heads a key mission in Europe asked the reason for posting of a majority of top Pakistani women diplomats in the continent said: “Most of our women envoys are posted in Europe because they are sophisticated, well-educated and know the languages. They are capable professionals who have made it on their own.”
A senior official at the headquarters previously associated with personnel department ascribed this trend to the gender issue besides the obvious factor of vacancy of foreign posts at the time of appointment.
He maintained that security aspect is a consideration in appointments of women diplomats abroad and, according to him, European stations being ‘soft posts’ with good living standards were seen as safe ones.
But the fact is that as junior and mid-career officers women from the Foreign Service have been posted in all sorts of regions and countries including Central Asian states, China, Iran, India, Bangladesh, Romania and Algeria, which do not necessarily fall in the ‘soft’ category.
Some diplomats entirely disagree with this notion of ‘soft posts’ and say it is not appropriate to draw that distinction in diplomatic assignments.
“You cannot predict when a situation in any given country could become abnormal or volatile,” is how one serving diplomat put it. If you ask women diplomats they would any time prefer challenging assignments, which are definitely more gratifying.”
In the recent past Pakistani women diplomats heading foreign missions have been caught in crisis situations in host countries but remained steadfast.
In the face of adversity and most difficult challenges on the diplomatic front they proved their mettle.
At the peak of Israeli military aggression against Lebanon in 2006 it was Asma Anisa, Pakistan’s then ambassador in Beirut who held the fort there against all odds.
Earlier, Pakistan saw Maliha managing its diplomacy in Washington after the 9/11 in the US and London after the 7/11 in the UK, both of which put Pakistan under tremendous diplomatic pressure.
When the massacre of the Royal family took place in Nepal again it was a woman ambassador there – Fauzia Nasreen. And in 1989 during the turmoil of revolution in Romania, former ambassador Durray Shahwar played a key role as the second-in-command at the Pakistan mission there.
Also at the Foreign Ministry headquarters there are more promising signals as regard women officers. The appointment of two senior women officers as additional foreign secretaries, Atiya Mehmud, head of the Americas Division, and Shireen Moiz, in charge of administration, is another first at Pakistan’ s diplomacy headquarters.
Official data shows 47 of the 380 currently serving diplomatic officers are women – every eighth diplomat. This is a slight improvement from the last year’s average of every ninth woman. Pakistan Foreign Service opened to women only in 1973 as a result of the 1972 Administrative Reforms. — Internews



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