Around 50 years ago, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had no women staff, particularly in diplomatic roles. But since then, there has been a significant shift, and now a notable number of women diplomats are actively participating alongside their male counterparts to safeguard the country’s interests. Although a gender gap in numbers still exists, women diplomats are steadily advancing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This transformation is an undeniable milestone for women in Bangladesh’s diplomatic arena. Starting from zero, the country now has about 50-60 women out of approximately 300 diplomats, working equally with their male counterparts. Eight out of 58 embassies and high commissions are currently led by women diplomats. Notably, the Bangladesh Consulate General in New York, one of the nation’s critical missions, is headed by a woman consul general.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2017, Bangladesh had five women ambassadors, a number that increased to seven in 2018 and now stands at eight envoys. With ongoing efforts in women’s empowerment, it’s expected that the number of women diplomats will continue to rise, aided by a 10 per cent quota for women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The journey of women’s representation in the Foreign Ministry began in 1972 when Mahmuda Haque Choudhury joined from the Prime Minister\u2019s Office. She later became Bangladesh’s first female ambassador and served in Bhutan from 1996 to 1998. Nasim Firdaus, from the foreign service cadre (1977 batch), was the first female diplomat and eventually became the first ambassador from the cadre in 2002, leading the Bangladesh mission in Indonesia. Over the years, more women have taken on ambassadorial roles, significantly contributing to diplomatic efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the current eight women ambassadors and high commissioners, Rabab Fatima holds a significant position as the country\u2019s permanent representative to the United Nations headquarters in New York. Other women diplomats are serving in various countries and organizations, showcasing the growing presence of women in key diplomatic positions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite facing challenges, these women diplomats emphasize that they are just as competent as their male counterparts and have earned their positions based on merit and meeting required criteria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Around 50 years ago, Bangladesh’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs had no women staff, particularly in diplomatic roles. But since then, there has been a significant shift, and now a notable number of women diplomats are actively participating alongside their male counterparts to safeguard the country’s interests. Although a gender gap in numbers still exists, women […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2731,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2730"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2734,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2730\/revisions\/2734"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hernet.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}