Diversity and diplomacy

ABSTRACT

Diplomats are the face of their country abroad. One way that a country can represent and benefit from its diversity is through the diversity of its diplomatic representatives. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has made a sustained effort to increase the diversity of its workforce and has improved the representation of some groups: for example, the increased number of women in senior positions in recent decades. A case study of DFAT’s Indigenous Recruitment and Career Development Strategy (2007–2015) identifies the following key factors needed for such efforts to succeed: sustained effort, high-level support, availability of peer support and a willingness to adapt programs over time. While there are challenges in implementing a diversity strategy, such as resource constraints and the broader organisational culture, the Indigenous Recruitment and Career Development Strategy provides a positive model of how to increase diversity among a country’s diplomats.

KEYWORDS:

• Diplomats
• diversity
• recruitment
• DFAT
• diversity strategy

Acknowledgements

Thanks are due to the DFAT’s Mentoring, Performance and Diversity Section, Indigenous Task force, members of the Indigenous Employees’ Network and His Excellency Damien Miller. The author acknowledges the assistance of Simone Burke, Anna Willis and Jes’Se Rushby in compiling data, researching sources and providing editorial support.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

ORCiD

Melissa Conley Tyler http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1466-5559

Notes

1. For example, DFAT 2011 includes the following: “Please be aware that this document contains the names and images produced by now deceased people. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade strives to treat Indigenous culture and beliefs with utmost respect. We acknowledge that to some communities, it is distressing to show images produced by people who have died.”