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Feature: Female diplomats discuss challenges

Sitting in an airplane en route from Warsaw to Taipei, Jessica Kao (高玉樺), dispatched to Poland by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), felt a sense of relief as, unlike her previous returns, when she only stayed in Taiwan for a short period of time, this time around she knew she would be with her husband for a few years before she receives her new assignment abroad.

A diplomat, Kao has lived away from her husband for the last four years. After working at MOFA for five years, Kao, 36, was transferred to embassies or missions abroad, as is the case for all MOFA officials.

In order to spend more time with her family, Kao filed a request for a job in Taiwan for two years.

Because of her fluency in Russian, in 2001 Kao was posted to Warsaw -- two months after getting married.

Ever since she passed the national special examination for diplomats in 1996, Kao had been prepared for the day when she would have to leave home behind and be deployed in far-away missions.

MOFA regulations stipulate that officials working in the ministry must work in foreign embassies or missions after serving in Taiwan for three to five years. They have to serve abroad for at least six years and then wait for the next transfer.

"It is quite a challenge for women who are determined to become career diplomats," Kao said. "But I have no regrets because I love my job."

The instability attendant to this lifestyle is demanding on all diplomats, but even more so on female ones.

"As far as I know, many female diplomats have a hard time juggling their marriage and work," said Gloria Chen (陳宛孜), 26, a secretary at the ministry. After having served at the ministry for close to four years, Chen will soon be transferred to the US.

Chen said some female colleagues have chosen to quit their jobs, others have remained single for a long time and some, unfortunately, have gotten divorced.

But she said she views her life as a career diplomat with great optimism.

"As long as communication with your partner is good, you can avoid unfortunate developments," she said, adding that in some rare cases the partners of female diplomats would follow them abroad.

From a total of 973 officials working at MOFA, only 209 of them are women, an underrepresentation resulting from old regulations.

Before 1996, the ministry had a restriction on the number of women admitted to the national examination.

Only five were admitted per year, said Phoebe Yeh (葉非比), deputy director-general of the ministry's Department of Information and Cultural Affairs.

"A few decades ago, female diplomats were regarded as anomalies," she said.

Yeh was not spared having to balance career and family, but with perseverance and patience she managed to overcome those difficulties and found her niche.

Although an increasing number of outstanding female politicians have announced their intention to campaign for their countries' top position -- including Hillary Clinton in the US, Segolene Royal in France and, at home, Vice President Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) -- women engaged in politics still face a glass ceiling.

On Tuesday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany's first woman to hold the position, acknowledged that her country "had a long way to go before women had a fair shot in politics and business."

Yeh agrees.

"Taiwan has made great progress on gender equality in all fields, including government. But that is not enough," she said.

"Problems arising from gender issues have gradually been eliminated at MOFA -- but that doesn't mean they don't still exist," Yeh added.

Another senior woman diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that China does a better job than Taiwan of promoting women elites to diplomatic positions.

"You would be surprised at the quantity of Chinese women serving as diplomats and the chances and responsibilities they are given," said the female official, adding that aside from Chinese Vice Premier Wu Yi (吳儀), who is in charge of diplomatic affairs, China's missions in the Netherlands and Belgium, for example, are headed by women.

She didn't elaborate on the proportion of female diplomats serving in the Chinese diplomatic community, however.

The highest-ranking female official at MOFA is Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Katherine Chang (章小月). Chang was promoted to the post in February last year after having served as the nation's top representative in the Netherlands.

In 1997, Chang became the nation's first female ambassador when she took up the post of ambassador to St. Kitts and Nevis and the Commonwealth of Dominica.

Kao told the Taipei Times that sometimes she likes to think back on the snow in Warsaw and that despite the challenges she faced there, the four years she spent in Poland "were the most wonderful experience of my diplomatic career."

"I don't think gender should be an issue in the diplomatic field," Kao said.

"Sometimes women can accomplish much more than their male counterparts, as long as they are given important tasks," she said, adding that she was as prepared for her next transfer as she was 10 years ago.
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