In a world often in conflict, more women are proudly wielding the soft power of diplomacy in positions they have traditionally not held to help build relations between countries, negotiating the laying down of arms and talking peace.
At an evening at George Washington University titled “Representing A Nation: Women in Diplomacy,” the Elizabeth J. Somers Women’s Leadership Program (WLP) annual conference hosted women ambassadors who have served all over the world. It is a world where more women are needed in these positions, they agreed.
“Women in diplomacy expand the boundaries of who represents a nation and how that representation looks and leads. Their presence—and their perspectives—can change the system itself,” said Carly Jordan, WLP director.
“That’s why conversations like this matter—especially for our students because diplomacy always needs new energy, new voices and new ways of thinking. And it’s here, in spaces like this one, that future diplomats, policy leaders and changemakers begin to imagine what their role might be in shaping the world ahead.”
The WLP is a living learning community for first-year GW students aimed to help develop students as leaders through mentoring and creating supportive networks.
WLP students Jackie Le and Lilly Risch Bakhit introduced the panelists that included Ambassador Bonnie Jenkins, Shapiro Visiting Professor at the GW Elliott School of International Affairs; Ambassador Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, B.A. ‘80, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Policy Council; Ruth Bajada, deputy head of the European Union Delegation to Washington; and Ambassador Piper Campbell, chair of the Department of Foreign Policy and Global Security at American University School of International Service.
Alyssa Ayres, dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs and professor of history and international affairs, moderated the discussion and led by asking the panelists whether they envisioned themselves in diplomacy and what unexpected moments led to where they landed.
Jenkins served as the undersecretary of state for arms control and international security in the Biden Administration. Her career in diplomacy, she said, “happened by chance.”
After graduating from law school with a focus on international affairs, she accepted an internship at the U.S. Department of Defense. She worked on issues related to weapons of mass destruction and biological weapons. That led to a position at the former Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, where she oversaw policy, diplomacy and represented U.S. ambassadors and delegations who were negotiating treaties. That position, in turn, led to a job in the State Department during the Obama administration.
Abercrombie-Winstanley took a more traditional route from Peace Corps volunteer where you “learn about another culture, teach about U.S. culture, make friends for America and leave a skill behind,” she said. She later attended graduate school and took the foreign service exam. Eventually, she was appointed the U.S. Ambassador to Malta.
Campbell wanted “to see the world” but didn’t know anyone in the federal government and did not imagine herself working there. She served as the deputy chief of mission, the number two job in the U.S. Embassy in Ulaanbaatar. When the ambassador left the post, she filled the four-and-a-half-month gap between ambassadors and discovered that her “management skills fit with being an ambassador.”
Bajada heard the call to a career in diplomacy when she was a child watching the conflict in Lebanon on television with her father on the small island of Malta. She said she asked her father, “Why are they fighting?”
“I became an activist and wanted to be part of something bigger and went to study European Affairs,” she said. “I always knew I wanted to do something in diplomacy where I could contribute in my little way to world peace.”
They learned or they were taught acceptance of women in diplomacy would not come automatically. A month into her tenure, Abercrombie-Winstanley, the first woman sent to run the diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia, found out that the dean of the consular corps was not inviting her to meetings until she “added a little pressure on his elbow,” and let him know that “I had an informant.”
“I was quite shocked to hear that it was happening” she said. “It was a reminder to me not to assume that [everybody is on the] same wavelength as you. Check it and ask questions.”
As a diplomat she was not in a position to make demands, but she could make change by asking questions, she said, such as, “Why is that? What do you expect to happen?”
Campbell recounted an occasion after a dinner in Iraq where the women gathered to discuss children. She saw a deputy minister she needed to speak with across the room where the men had gathered. “All I need to do is to talk to him, and he’s over there drinking scotch,” she said. “So, finally, I thought I’m going to go over and ask for a scotch.”.
Jenkins learned to ignore her imposter syndrome. “They were negotiating in Vienna and…there were very few women in the delegation,” she said. “I was the only Black person in a substantive role and very young.
“You have these feelings, if you’re different. And if you just spend time thinking about that, you’re not spending time doing what you need to do to be prepared.”
Bajada described being with her boss, the European Union’s chief negotiator during the Iranian Nuclear Deal, as the only women in the room with Iranians, Chinese, Russians, Germans, French and Americans.
“‘Ruth, no matter what kind of chair they offer you, even if it is three-legged or broken, you take it,’” she said her boss told her. “’You have something to say. Always make your perspective heard. Be yourself.’”
Each panelist offered highlights and memories—people lingering over a dinner after meeting each other for the first time in a U.S. mission, negotiating for hours to come up with the exact terms in a text, stopping at a museum to get a better understanding of cultures, and developing friendships with people you’ve worked with around the world.
To prepare for such a world, these accomplished cultural mavens advised students to read smartly, books that will exercise the muscles of the mind. Talk to everybody. Travel the world. Be present. Go to a meeting. Take the chair that you are offered. Lead with respect. Stay engaged. Think critically. Read history.
“All that is happening has happened before, so don’t give up hope,” Jenkins said.
At the end of the program, first-year WLP student Sara Moumadi said the symposium was “incredibly inspiring.”
“Hearing from so many accomplished diplomats gave me a new understanding of what leadership looks like, especially in spaces where you might feel out of place,” she said. “The event made me feel more confident about taking on leadership roles, even when things feel uncertain. It showed me that courage, persistence and self belief are just as important as experience.”