A chara, – I read with interest Mary Fitzgerald’s feature on the changes in senior foreign affairs postings (Weekend Review, August 31st), but was disconcerted and indeed deeply disappointed to note that only one of the seven ambassadors (albeit to what is one of our most senior postings) is a woman. The only acceptable explanation for such a gender imbalance would be if at the time these individuals entered the Department of Foreign Affairs (in which I served from 1970 to 1975) only one in seven applicants for entry was a woman.
If this imbalance did exist at the relevant time (which I find implausible), and continues today, active steps should be taken to ensure that the situation is corrected. This would mean identifying the possible causes of a lack of women applicants, and possible reasons for any blocks to the most senior ranks, and working towards remedying the situation. Surely this is a prerequisite if we truly seek, to cite ambassador Anne Anderson, “To project a modern, 21st century Ireland”? – Is mise,
MARY LORIGAN,
Brandling Place South,
Jesmond,
Newcastle upon Tyne,
England.