Strengthening the Representation of Women in Diplomacy: Lessons from the Field

This report situates the challenges to women’s representation in diplomacy within their broader institutional and socio-political contexts and identifies practical, actionable, and transferable solutions. Through our dialogues, we identified a range of structural, institutional, and cultural barriers and co-created a practical toolkit, based on proven practices, that address them. The solutions encompass critical priority areas for action across diplomatic institutions, including data collection, fairer recruitment and career progression, expanded professional development, and improved work-life balance

About the Authors

Karen E. Smith is the co-founder and director of the LSE Women in Diplomacy project. She is a Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her main area of research is the ‘international relations of the European Union’, and she has examined the EU’s pursuit of ‘ethical’ foreign policy goals such as promoting human rights and democracy, and EU-UN relations. She is now working on projects on women in foreign policymaking and diplomacy, and on the role of that emotions play in EU foreign policy-making.

Marta Kozielska is the co-founder and manager of the Women in Diplomacy Project at LSE IDEAS, where she oversees the project’s activities and strategic vision. Marta is a policy analyst and advisor specialising in the design, delivery, and evaluation of evidence-based policies and programmes, across the UK and EU. Her work focuses on social and financial inclusion, gender equality, fundamental rights, and international governance, having worked across academia, think tanks, public sector consulting, and government. Formerly, Marta led policy research and evaluation projects for the EU, focusing on strengthening citizen engagement and inclusion in democratic processes and improving EU decision-making and funding mechanisms.