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WiD Series 2 Episode 11: Black Women in Diplomacy

This podcast features Lynessa Griffith, a former diplomat and current PhD researchers at City St George’s, University of London, where she studies diplomacy, gender and global power. Her diplomatic career included roles as Grenada’s Youth Ambassador at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Sustainable Development Ambassador to the Organisation of Eastern Caribbeans States in 2021, and Cultural Attaché at the Embassy of Grenada to the Russian Federation from 2019 to 2021. Her PhD work examines women’s representation, race and power in global governance. She spoke to Prof Karen E. Smith about the assumptions that are made about young women diplomats, and the importance of networks, mentors and sponsors in building a career in diplomacy. She also spoke about her PhD project on black women diplomats in the UK.

WiD Series 2 Episode 10: Women in Central American Diplomacy

This podcast features Marisol Argueta de Barillas, who is currently the senior director for Latin America for the World Economic Forum. She previously served as the Foreign Minister of El Salvador. Prior to that, she was senior advisor to the foreign minister, general director of foreign policy, minister counselor at the embassy of El Salvador in Washington, DC, and alternate representative of El Salvador to the United Nations. She spoke to Marta Kozielska about the importance of mentors and networks in supporting women’s careers in diplomacy, the need to search for creative solutions to problems that are particular to the field of diplomacy, and the impact that the legacy of conflict in El Salvador had on her ambition to become a diplomat.

WiD Series 2 Episode 9: Women in EU Diplomacy

In this episode, Marta Kozielska spoke with Ambassador Agnieszka Bartol, Poland's Permanent Representative to the European Union. Ambassador Bartol has held a number of senior posts across EU institutions and Polish government. She supported shaping the Treaty of Lisbon and served as Head of Cabinet to the Secretary-General of the Council of the EU. Ambassador Bartol was also the European Commission's Director-General for Communication and Information, and most recently served as Secretary of State in the Polish Prime Minister's Office, leading on EU relations. They discussed Ambassador's transition from civil servant to diplomat, the mentors and other 'enablers' that made a difference, and how to adapt one’s leadership to national vs international contexts as well as the currently evolving geopolitical landscape.

WiD Series 2 Episode 8: The potential of individual leadership
In this episode, Marta Kozielska speaks with Ambassador Valeria Csukasi who is the first female career diplomat to serve as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay. Ambassador Csukasi started her career in 2002 and rose through the ranks to her leadership position having faced many barriers and adversities. Today, in her leadership role, she actively promotes gender-inclusive measures within her team and across the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Uruguay. Previously, Ambassador Csukasi also held key roles in international relations and trade negotiations, including her service as the Ambassador of Uruguay to Malaysia and Cambodia.

WiD Series 2 Episode 7: Women and Trade Negotiations

In this episode, Prof Karen E Smith spoke with  Ambassador Ailish Campbell, who was appointed Canada’s Ambassador to the European Union in October 2020. She has held a number of posts relating to economic, finance and international policy. She joined Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada in 2002 as a trade negotiator in the WTO Doha Round. She served as the General Director, Economic Development and Corporate Finance, at FinanceCanada where she led work on innovation, clean technology, and defence. From2017 to 2020 she was Chief Trade Commissioner of Canada and Assistant Deputy Minister, leading Global Affairs Canada’s team of Trade Commissioners. She holdsa Doctorate in International Relations from the University of Oxford. They discussed handling and confronting the biases that women in diplomacy face, particularly when becoming mothers. Ambassador Campbell also shared lessonsthat we can learn from Canada’s experience of ensuring a gender balance in ambassadorial posts: data collection, leadership and listening all matter in making progress in ensuring diversity within the field of diplomacy.

WiD Series 2 Episode 6: Women in British Diplomacy

In this episode, Prof Karen E Smith speaks with Ambassador Kara Owens, who has just been appointed as UK Ambassador to Ireland. Most recently she was the British High Commissioner to Singapore from 2019 to 2024. Ambassador Owen has also served as Director for the Americas at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Deputy Head of Mission at the British Embassy in Paris between 2011 and 2016; Head of Strategy, Communication and Training Department, in the Consular Directorate at the FCO (2011); Head of Diversity and Equality at the FCO (2009 to 2011); and Deputy Head of Mission in at the British Embassy in Hanoi from 2005to 2009. Their discussion ranged from why she wanted to be a diplomat to what the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office has done to strengthen women’s representation in diplomacy.

WiD Series 2 Episode 5: Breaking Barriers from Engineering to Diplomacy

In this episode, Prof Karen E Smith spoke with Ambassador Yvette Elizabeth Stevens. Ambassador Stevens grew up in colonial Sierra Leone, became that country’s first female engineer, and then served in several leadership positions within the United Nations system, including fifteen years with the UN’s refugee agency. From 2004 to 2006, she was the Assistant Humanitarian Coordinator and Director of the Geneva Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance. In 2012, she became Sierra Leone’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, and established the first permanent mission of her country there. She served in that capacity until 2018. In 2024 she published her memoir, entitled . In the podcast, she talks about her extraordinary career, the challenges of balancing her career with single motherhood, and setting up Sierra Leone’s first permanent mission in Geneva. As Ambassador in Geneva, she juggled the many responsibilities she had to take on single-handedly, and sought to act as the ‘voice of the voiceless’.

WiD Series 2 Episode 4: Women in diplomacy and Mexico's feminist foreign policy

In this episode, Prof Karen E Smith interviewed Ambassador Jennifer Feller, who has been a member of Mexico’s Foreign Service since 2003. She is currently serving as the Director General for Europe and Mexico’s G20 Sherpa. Previously,at the Mexican Ministry of Foreign Relations, she worked as the Director General of Political Planning and G20, Acting Director General for Europe and Acting Deputy Foreign Minister. Between 2016 and 2021, she served as the DeputyHead of Mission at the Embassies of Mexico in Portugal and in France, and previously held several different positions in the Mexican Embassies in the United States, Portugal and the United Nations in New York. They spoke about the obstacles that women can face in the field of diplomacy and some of the measures that foreign ministries can take to try to overcome those barriers. They also discussed the implementation of Mexico’s feminist foreign policy.

WiD Series 2 Episode 3: Feminist Foreign Policy and Diplomacy

In this episode the LSE IDEAS Women in Diplomacy podcast series, Prof Karen E Smith spoke with Ann Linde, who served as Sweden’s Foreign Minister from 2019 to 2022. She has also been Sweden’s Minister for Foreign Trade and Nordic Affairs, and Minister for EU Affairs and Trade. She also has extensive experience working in various ministries in Sweden’s government, including the ministry of defence and the ministry of justice. They spoke about Sweden’s pursuit of a feminist foreign policy, the importance of ensuring that women are represented in peace negotiations, the crucial need to leadership in ensuring diversity and better women’s representation in a variety of sectors, and the steps that leaders can take to break down barriers in male-dominated sectors.

WiD Series 2 Episode 2: Women in Diplomacy and International Law

This episode features Ambassador Ximena Fuentes, Chile’s Ambassador to the UK. She has extensive experience in foreign affairs and international law. She was Chile’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs between 2022 and 2023, and a departmental director in the foreign ministry from 2015 to 2022. She is also an Associate Professor of Public International Law at the University of Chile and has represented Chile before the International Court of Justice, and acted as a legal adviser to Chile’s government regarding other ICJ cases. She spoke with Professor Karen E. Smith, the Director of the Women in Diplomacy project, about the structural barriers that still impede women’s representation in diplomacy, the dearth of women in leadership positions in international law, Chile’s feminist foreign policy, and the benefits of women’s diplomatic networks.

WiD Series 2 Episode 1: Diplomacy in the Five Eyes: 13 Nov 2024

In this episode of series 2, Professor Karen E Smith talks to Melissa Hitchman, an Australian diplomat and public servant who served as Australia’s Ambassador to the Holy See. She has also worked in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and has contributed to Australia’s engagement on gender at the UN Human Rights Council and implementation of the Women, Peace and Security agenda. She is currently on leave from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, as she is pursuing a PhD at the Australian National University on Australia’s record on women in diplomacy. The conversation centred on the importance of mentors and role models, including inspirational figures in the history of Australia’s foreign policy, the kinds of structural barriers that women in diplomacy still face, and the many measures that can be taken to try to foster women’s careers in diplomacy.

WiD Episode 12: Women in Security, 11 June 2024

In this episode, Karen E. Smith speaks with Ambassador Mitsuko Hayashi, who is currently an Ambassador in the Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department at Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Her career has predominantly focused on defense and security policy making. She has worked on Japan’s defence relationships with a number of countries, including China, India, Australia and the UK. She has also worked in the Japanese Ministry of Defence. They spoke about the challenges of navigating a career in a very male-dominated area, that of security and defence, the changes that she has seen in terms of increasing women’s representation in Japanese diplomacy, and Japan’s commitment to the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

WiD Episode 11: Women in Art and Diplomacy, 5 March 2024

This episode features Gabriela von Habsburg, who served as Georgia’s ambassador to Germany from 2009 to 2013. She is also an artist, creating abstract sculptures, and has been a professor of art. She was born in Luxembourg, grew up in Germany and then became a citizen of Georgia. She spoke to Prof Karen E. Smith, Director of the Women in Diplomacy project, about her unusual path to a diplomatic career and the importance of cultural diplomacy. They also discussed the challenges of representing a small country that had recently suffered from violent conflict. When she served in Berlin, she was one of only a few female ambassadors in the capital, and the experience made her think that we may need quotas to improve the representation of women in diplomacy.

WiD Episode 10: Women in Leadership, 16 February 2024

This episode features the Ambassador of the United States to the UK, Jane Hartley. She is only the second woman to serve in that position. Previously she was the US Ambassador to France from 2014 to 2017. She also had a distinguished career in the private sector, and has served on a number of boards of trustees, including as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Sesame Workshop. In a conversation that took place at Winfield House, the US Ambassador’s residence in London, she spoke with Prof Karen E. Smith, the Director of the Women in Diplomacy project, and Marta Kozielska, the Women in Diplomacy Project Manager. They discussed the challenges facing women serving in the public and private sectors, the different leadership styles of women, the importance of role models (including in fictional media, such as in the Netflix show The Diplomat), and the benefits and opportunities that a career in diplomacy offers.

WiD Episode 9: Diplomacy in Multinational Organisations, 24 January 2024

Episode 9 of the podcast series features ⁠Nicole Mannion⁠, the Deputy Head of the European Union’s Delegation to the UK. She has been in that post since 2020, and before that, served as the Director for Brexit and EU Affairs at the Embassy of Ireland in London, as Ireland’s European Correspondent, and the Deputy Director for Human Rights in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs. She spoke to Professor ⁠Karen E. Smith⁠, the Director of the Women in Diplomacy Project, about the importance of mentors in building a diplomatic career, the differences between working in the diplomatic service of a relatively small state and that of a large multinational organisation, and the efforts that the EU has made towards improving gender balance in its diplomatic service.

WiD Episode 8: Health, Development and Peacebuilding, 24 January 2024

Episode 8 of the podcast series features ⁠Alaa Murabit⁠, who leads the Gates Foundation’s health advocacy and communications programme. She is a medical doctor, women’s rights advocate, and an advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General. She founded Voice of Libyan Women in 2011, when she was 21, and also recorded a widely-viewed TED Talk on ‘What My Religion Really Says About Women’. She spoke with ⁠Dr Mary Martin⁠, the Director of the LSE IDEAS UN Business and Human Security Initiative. They discussed the need to ensure that peace processes involve broader perspectives than just those of the parties to the conflict, the threats to women’s rights over their bodies, and why institutions have to change how they manage security and development.

WiD Episode 7: Women’s Leadership and Communication, 27 November 2023

Episode 7 of the Women in Diplomacy podcast series features Dr Sandra Pralong, a state adviser in Romania’s Department for the Relations with Romanians Abroad, and a member of the Cabinet of the President of Romania. She has extensive experience in the field of communication. She served as the Director of Promotion of Newsweek in New York, and led the UN Development Programme’s communications efforts in the Central and East European region. She also served as a gender and civil society adviser at the UN Fund for Population. She spoke to Marta Kozielska, the LSE Ideas Women in Diplomacy Project Manager, about the different environments she has worked in, the importance of communication skills and the influence gender has had in influencing her professional goals and priorities.

Episode 6: Women Leaders in International Law, 3 August 2023

Episode 6 of the podcast series features Her Excellency Dr Fatou Bensouda, who is currently serving as The Gambia’s High Commissioner to the UK. From 2012 to 2021 Dr Bensouda was the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) – the first woman and the first African to serve in that capacity. She had previously served as the Deputy Prosecutor of the ICC, as Senior Legal Advisor in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and in a number of roles in The Gambia including Attorney General and Minister for Justice. She spoke to Dr Henriette Mueller, a member of the Women in Diplomacy team and an Assistant Professor of Gender, Governance and Society at NYU Abu Dhabi. They spoke about gender equality in international jurisprudence, and the obstacles women, especially women from the Global South, face as leaders in international law. They also discussed Dr Bensouda’s leadership in ensuring gender equality and diversity at the ICC, and in advancing accountability for sexual and gender-based crimes, a first for the ICC and an important step in the development of international criminal law.

Episode 5: Women Ambassadors and Leadership, 27 July 2023

In episode 5, Ambassador Nadia Theodore spoke to Professor Pamela Blackmon about the challenges of leading in a sector – trade – that has traditionally been dominated by men. Ambassador Theodore is Canada’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organization, the UN Conference on Trade and Development, the International Trade Centre and the World Intellectual Property Organization. She has over a dozen years of experience in trade diplomacy, and has also served as Vice President of Maple Leaf Foods. Professor Blackmon is a member of the Women in Diplomacy research team and a Professor of Political Science at Penn State Altoona. Ambassador Theodore reiterated that groups of diverse policy-makers help produce better, more representative policy: to have trade policy that works for the greatest number of people, then different perspectives, including those of women and others with intersectional identities, have to be incorporated into policy-making. She offered advice on how to counter biases and to seek out mentors for specific stages of your career.

Episode 4: Women’s Leadership in Practice, 21 June 2023

The fourth episode of the podcast series features Baroness Catherine Ashton. Baroness Ashton served as Leader of the UK House of Lords, and then as EU Trade Commissioner, before assuming the role of the EU’s first High Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Vice President of the European Commission, between 2009 and 2014. She has recently published a book, And Then What? Inside Stories of 21st-Century Diplomacy, about her time as EU High Representative. She spoke to Dr Rosa Balfour, the Director of Carnegie Europe, and a member of the LSE IDEAS Women in Diplomacy team. They discussed the challenges that Baroness Ashton faced trying to improve the gender balance and diversity within the new European External Action Service, the critical importance of diplomacy to help resolve problems and prevent further crises, and advice on finding mentors and building alliances in a multilateral setting.

Episode 3: Women Leaders in Climate, 17 May 2023

The third episode of the podcast series features Ambassador Patricia Espinosa, the former Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. She also served as the Foreign Minister of Mexico and an ambassador to several countries and international organizations, and she was appointed Ambassador Emeritus of Mexico in 2012. She is currently the Founding Partner and CEO of onepoint5, a consulting firm specialising on climate change. At an LSE IDEAS online public event, she spoke to Dr Kamya Choudary, a member of the Women in Diplomacy research team and India Policy Fellow at LSE’s Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment. They discussed the need for bold action to combat climate change, strategies for overcoming obstacles to the progression of women (especially from the Global South) in diplomacy, and what international organisations and national diplomatic services need to do to ensure that the diplomatic space is inclusive and diverse.

Episode 2: Women Ambassadors and Leadership, 3 April 2023

The second episode in the podcast series features the British Ambassador to the United States, Dame Karen Pierce. Ambassador Pierce is the first female British ambassador to the United States, and before that was the first female British Permanent Representative to the UN in New York. She has also served as British Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, and has worked on security issues in the Balkans and Afghanistan. She talked to Dr Ingvild Bode, a member of the 'Women in Diplomacy' research team and an associate professor at the University of Southern Denmark. They discussed the differences between serving in bilateral and multilateral settings, the importance of finding supportive mentors, and finding the courage to be a trailblazer.

Episode 1: Women in Leadership at the World Trade Organisation, 7 Feb 2023

The first episode in the podcast series features Dr Ngozi Okonjo Iweala, the Director-General of the World Trade Organization, and the first woman and first African to lead the body tasked with lowering trade barriers and fostering the inclusion of developing countries in the global trading system. Among her many publications, Dr Okonjo Iweala also co-authored a book on Women and Leadership. Her appointment as Director-General in March 2021 was a major step forward in improving gender parity in the WTO leadership. As she recounts in the podcast, she has taken steps to try to make women and trade a much stronger part of what the WTO does, and to implement a gender policy framework within the WTO to recruit women and advance their careers in the organization.

The Women in Diplomacy events aim to engage the public in discussion on women leadership across international organisations and the impact, importance and the potential of gender equality.

Upcoming Events

More coming soon...

Past Events

Report Launch: Strengthening the Representation of Women in Diplomacy: Lessons from the Field | March 2026

This launch event presented key findings from the report and brought together practitioners, policymakers, and researchers to reflect on lessons from the field and discuss pathways for change. The event offered an opportunity to engage in an open, informed discussion on strengthening women’s representation and leadership in diplomacy.

Women in Diplomacy: Panel Talk | Mon 18 Nov 2024

Securing a Seat at the Table: Women in International Diplomacy
Tuesday 27 June 2023

To celebrate the International Day of Women in Diplomacy, the project teamed up with the European Union delegation to the UK and Aspen UK to host an event with Sally Axworthy, Dr Fatou Bensouda, Sophie Katsarava and Natalia Royo.

Feminist Foreign Policy
Tuesday 4 October 2022

Feminist foreign policy has been progressively implemented by different governments in Europe and the world, including Sweden, France, Mexico and Canada. But what are the outcomes and benefits of feminist foreign policy?

Women in Climate Diplomacy
Wednesday 16 February 2022

Ermira Fida, Danae Kyriakopoulou, Bernice Lee, and Karen Smith explored the role of women in climate diplomacy. The panellists discussed what must change and how different scenarios will affect climate diplomacy, climate policy, and delivering on the 1.5°C pledge as a result?

Women in Diplomacy
Wednesday 20 October 2021

Maria Assunta Accili Sabbatini, Maud Dlomo, Michaela Muscat Spaak and Pilar Saborio de Rocafort discuss the role of women in diplomacy in the 21st century. The panellists consider the extent to which the context has changed over the course of their careers and the work that remains to be done to improve women’s representation in diplomacy.

We have collaborated with numerous organisations on specialised workshops, strategic roundtables, discussions.

This includes, but is not limited to: Women, Peace, and Security at LSE | Parligender, gender equality network in UK Parliament | Austrian Embassy in London | Permanent Representation of Croatia to the European Union| Ratiu Democracy Centre| University of Gothenburg + European Union delegation to the UK + LSE Careers