Asian Women in Foreign Policy: Achieving Inclusive Diplomacy

In Asia, women have taken on prominent roles, however their contributions and underrepresentation in leadership positions have often been overlooked. Concerted efforts are needed to build a supportive organisational culture that values the contributions and experiences of women and achieves inclusive diplomacy.

Over the past century, women have played a vital role in the realm of foreign services. In Asia specifically, they have taken on prominent roles as ambassadors, mediators, negotiators, and representatives of their countries. Despite their extensive roles, women’s contributions in diplomacy have often been overlooked and they are still underrepresented in leadership positions.

Why women’s roles in diplomacy matters

Women have significantly contributed to the field of diplomacy globally. For one, investing in women and girls is essential for improving global problem-solving since they make up half of the population and, by extension, half of its potential. In the peace process, data shows that women only accounted for 13 percent of negotiators, six percent of mediators, and six percent of signings in peace agreements between 1992-2019.

During the peace negotiations between the Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in 2014, for example, there were only three women among the 12 signatories in the final agreement. In Indonesia, there were only two female pastors and a muslim woman who participated in the peace process during the conflict in Poso (Malino I), and only one woman involved in the final round of peace talks on Aceh.

There are mounting studies that illustrate the significance of female inclusion to peace efforts. There is evidence that peace accords are more likely to adopt gender provisions when women are represented at decision-making tables. However, to make it happen, studies indicate that there must be the willingness and the opportunity of female delegates to push for their inclusion.

Moreover, women have different capacities that can inspire more passionate participation in transforming leadership, as reported by UNESCAP. The performance of Indonesia’s female diplomat, Nara Masista Rakhmatia, who condemned human rights violations in West Papua during the 71st session of the UN General Assembly, demonstrates this kind of leadership.

When women hold positions in national cabinets and parliaments, they bring forward progressive laws concerning education, empowerment, and human rights that affect the general population. Indonesia’s foreign minister, Retno Marsudi, for example, has introduced various empowering initiatives at the national level that aim to provide equal access to education for Afghani women and enhance their capacity building in numerous fields, including in women’s reproductive health and in sharia banking.

Therefore, to effectively address and solve the many and intricate socio, cultural, economic, and political issues, including climate change, pandemics, and human rights, it is crucial to have equal representation of women leaders, as well as incorporate gender equality principles, in diplomatic endeavors.

Identifying the gap in diplomacy

Beyond numbers, women in Asia have increasingly made strides in diplomacy. They have been leading in responding regional and global issues. Retno Marsudi, for instance, has shown her consistency and leadership on the Palestinian issues, which has obtained strong appreciation from among Arab countries. She is also among the first foreign diplomats to fly to Myanmar in 2017 to meet with the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, to resolve the Rohingya problem.

The participation of women in diplomacy in Asia has also had a beneficial influence on closing gender parity gaps and the advancement of women within their communities. Women are gradually becoming more involved and represented in foreign policy; however, their representation in political appointments and ambassadorships, is still far from parity.

The 2024 global gender gap score currently stands at 68.5 percent, which still positions Political Empowerment as the widest on the spectrum at 22.5 percent, indicating the slow progress for women empowerment in politics. In Asia specifically, the 2023 AGDA report on the Women in Diplomacy Index noted that six countries in Asia, out of 169 tracked in total, have a percentage share of women ambassadors that is above the world average (21 percent). These include Maldives (50 percent), Thailand (32 percent), Sri Lanka (32 percent), the Philippines (26 percent), Cambodia (25 percent), and Brunei Darussalam (21 percent).

Indonesia, as Asia’s largest democratic country, is still making progress towards increasing the percentage of its female ambassadors, which is still around 13 percent. The average representation of women as ambassadors in the last 75 years sits around 5.28 percent or 65 women out of 1,230 assignments. Nevertheless, it should be acknowledged that the appointment of Retno Marsudi, as the first female foreign minister in Indonesia, has broken the glass ceiling in the ministry.

Marsudi has helped develop gender mainstreaming policies in Indonesia, including the stripping back of regulations that hamper the careers of female diplomats, the formation of a sisterhood platform for mutual support for female diplomats in the ministry, and the establishment of supportive facilities for female diplomats such as daycare and nursing rooms.

The recruitment policy has also opened equal opportunities for women further, resulting in a growing parity between male and female diplomats, which is already 50-50. These gender-sensitive policies have influenced the rising number of women working in junior positions. However, women’s representation in more senior and leadership positions is still moving slowly, underlining the complex and opaque promotion processes for women diplomats.

It should be acknowledged that the issuance of the Foreign Minister Regulation on gender mainstreaming has boosted the implementation of women-friendly facilities in Indonesia’s representative offices, and helped build a conducive environment for female staff. However, it is still not supported by a dedicated budget to ensure sustainability.

Amid multifaceted domestic constraints and difficulties with work-life balance, these barriers have highlighted the existence of systemic and structural issues, cultural and traditional stereotypes, and limited socialisation of gender awareness, thus impeding equal representation and the promotion of women to leadership roles or top-level positions in diplomacy.

Ways Forward

The representation and advancement of women in diplomacy is an ongoing and critical issue. And the absence of women in leadership and influence roles within the diplomatic corps has significant implications for the diplomatic field and wider society.

For the time being, the transformation toward gender equality is still sluggish, and more will need to be done to influnece further promotion. Fostering women’s participation at all levels of decision-making will help to achieve critical mass and produce more gender-responsive policy outcomes.

Women’s underrepresentation in senior diplomatic positions should drive policy initiatives and accelerate their meaningful representation. We should not simply aim for achieving numerical gender balance in ambassadorial positions, but also help to build women’s confidence, resilience, and networks while climbing the ladder. These initiatives should include merit-based promotion, mentorship programs, and institutional support, enabling women to thrive and ascend to the highest echelons of the diplomatic corps.

These concerted efforts are able not only to build a supportive organisational culture that values the contributions and experiences of women but can also help to achieve inclusive diplomacy. Consequently, these efforts will help advance strategic foreign policies with diverse perspectives and transformative changes in a rapidly evolving world.

Dr Athiqah Nur Alami is a researcher at the Research Center for Politics, the National Research and Innovation Agency (Badan Riset dan Inovasi Nasional-BRIN), Indonesia. She completed her Ph.D. from the Department of Southeast Asian Studies, National University of Singapore. Her main interests are Indonesia’s foreign policy, labor migration, and gender in International Relations, particularly to apply a gender lens in analysing both migration and foreign policy and diplomacy issues.

This article is published under a Creative Commons License and may be republished with attribution.