By Meg Foley Yoder
At the first Carr-Ryan Conversations event of the 2025-26 academic year, the Center turned its attention to the gendered realities of diplomacy. The discussion, Gender’s Impact on Bilateral Diplomacy, paired rigorous research with lived experience to explore how structural barriers and cultural expectations continue to shape the field.
The event was moderated by Kathryn Sikkink, Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights at Harvard Kennedy School and a Carr-Ryan Center faculty committee member, and featured two speakers: Ann Towns, professor of political science at the University of Gothenburg and visiting fellow at the Carr-Ryan Center, and Desirée Cormier Smith, Human Rights and U.S. Foreign Policy Fellow at the Center.
Research on Gendered Diplomacy
Towns opened with insights from her extensive research on the role of gender in bilateral diplomacy, which will appear in her forthcoming book Diplomatic Gender: A Feminist History of Power in State-to-State Relations. She explained how diplomatic institutions remain organized around expectations that disadvantage women and reinforce male norms.
“There needs to be parental leave, there needs to be international standards. The ways in which diplomacy is gendered—long evenings, constant weekend obligations—affect women’s participation and advancement.” — Ann Towns
Structural issues, she noted, often surface in the daily rhythms of diplomatic life: receptions held on evenings and weekends, limited parental leave, and assumptions about spousal roles.
“There needs to be parental leave, there needs to be international standards,” Towns said. “The ways in which diplomacy is gendered—long evenings, constant weekend obligations—affect women’s participation and advancement.”
Her research also shows that women often encounter more discrimination within their home ministries of foreign affairs than when serving abroad.
“Some of the people I interview say they are much more discriminated against in ministries of foreign affairs than they are when they’re posted abroad,” she explained.
Towns emphasized that diplomacy is also structured by assumptions about sexuality. Heteronormative expectations around spouses, for example, often marginalize LGBTQI+ diplomats whose partners are denied recognition or status at official events.
Lived Experience in Practice
Cormier Smith then reflected on how these dynamics played out in her own diplomatic career. A former Special Representative for Racial Equality and Justice at the U.S. State Department and a Harvard Kennedy School alumna, she described the constant balancing act of managing appearance, authority, and identity.
“As a woman, if you don’t look nice, then somehow that makes them think you don’t know what you’re talking about. But if you look too nice, then they don’t think you know what you’re talking about either.” — Desirée Cormier Smith
“As a woman, if you don’t look nice, then somehow that makes them think you don’t know what you’re talking about. But if you look too nice, then they don’t think you know what you’re talking about either,” she said.
In postings abroad, she often faced both gendered and racialized assumptions. In Tijuana, for instance, she recalled being mistaken for Mexican and subjected to intrusive questions that undermined her diplomatic authority. At other times, pregnancy became the focus of meetings rather than the policy issues at hand.
“A man will never have to spend the time and mental energy to continue to redirect the conversation back to the actual work,” she reflected.
“There’s a tension between older generations who felt forced to assimilate and younger women who see their perspectives as a superpower.” — Desirée Cormier Smith
Cormier Smith also pointed to generational differences among women in the State Department. Earlier cohorts often felt compelled to assimilate into male norms—suits, muted tones, and conformity—while younger diplomats increasingly embrace identity as an asset.
“There’s a tension between older generations who felt forced to assimilate and younger women who see their perspectives as a superpower,” she said.
A Continuing Conversation
Together, Towns’s research and Cormier Smith’s reflections painted a layered picture of how gender shapes diplomatic practice from institutional structures to the smallest personal interactions. Their exchange underscored both the persistence of gendered barriers and the emerging possibilities for change.
As the moderator, Sikkink noted the number of hands that remained raised even as the event closed—a sign of just how much the audience wanted to continue the conversation. For many, the dialogue embodied the mission of the Carr-Ryan Conversations series: to bring scholarship and lived experience into dialogue in order to illuminate the human rights dimensions of global politics.
