Women's Month

In 1982 when Constantina Koliou joined the Greek foreign service, the country had only three women diplomats.

Today Koliou is the new Greek ambassador to Manila, and women – among them Koliou’s predecessor here – make up about a fourth of their diplomatic corps.

The gender ratio is similar in Turkey, according to Ambassador Hatice Pinar Isik. She and Koliou, together with four of the five other women ambassadors posted in Manila, attended a luncheon last Monday in a belated commemoration of International Women’s Day.

Delia Domingo Albert of the Philippines, the first female foreign minister in Asia, hosted the small gathering, held at the former Makati penthouse home of Washington SyCip that was converted last year into the museum of accounting giant SyCip, Gorres, Velayo & Co. or SGV.

At a large round table with a purple theme, the color of the women’s movement, the diplomats chatted about the status of what was once described as the weaker sex in their profession.

Majeda Rafiqun Nessa is one of only two women ambassadors in Bangladesh; the other one is posted in Brussels. But Bangladesh is currently headed by a woman - the country’s second female prime minister.

Malal Hajah Halimah Malal Haji Yussof is one of only four women ambassadors of Brunei, but they are not denied significant postings: one is assigned in Beijing and another is in the ASEAN secretariat in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In the case of Laos, Malyvieng Sakonhninhom is one of only five women ambassadors. But March 8, International Women’s Day, is a national holiday in Laos. Ambassador Albert asked why this isn’t the case in the Philippines; I told her investors are already complaining that we have too many holidays.

Many Filipino men have also told me – and I think they weren’t entirely joking – that they wanted a Men’s Day.

Filipino women – at least those with sufficient education and financial independence – are among the most empowered in the world, protected by tough laws against domestic violence (physical, sexual and psychological) as well as various forms of gender discrimination.

Philippine newsrooms are packed with women. Last year I told my colleagues in other countries that I didn’t encounter a glass ceiling in my career. The STAR’s founding chairman was the late Betty Go-Belmonte. At last Monday’s luncheon, another guest from the media was Philippine Daily Inquirer chairman Marixi Prieto. 

Women are active within SGV itself, which was once chaired by Gloria Tan Climaco, and where Delia Albert is currently serving as senior adviser. Two women who are now SGV partners, who were present at the lunch, told us that about half of their 2,800 personnel, including 100 lawyers, are women. (An interesting footnote: among the former SGV lawyers are Chief Justice Renato Corona, Justice Secretary Leila de Lima, Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Revenue Commissioner Kim Henares.)

Millions of poor and undereducated Filipino women are unaware of their rights under the law and continue to suffer from abuse and discrimination. They also continue to be deprived of reproductive health rights. There are still glass ceilings to be broken in various professions. But Filipino women have much to celebrate during Women’s Month.

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Women account for 51 percent of the voters; why shouldn’t women have similar representation in government?

Ambassador Agnes Nyamande-Pitso of South Africa, the sixth foreign diplomat at the luncheon, gave this comment when I noted that there were many women in the South African Cabinet.

Delia Albert attributed this to the fact that when South Africa was in turmoil over apartheid, the men were fighting while the women had time to get an education. When apartheid ended, women had the qualifications for positions of responsibility in the new government.

By law, half of government positions in South Africa should go to women. Ambassador Pitso told us with pride that she was the first female diplomat to be posted in an Arab country except Lebanon, when she was assigned as consul-general in Dubai.

Advocates of women’s rights and the battle against AIDS, however, are unimpressed with South Africa’s sexagenarian President Jacob Zuma, an open polygamist who married his third concurrent first lady (and fifth wife) in a Zulu ceremony in 2010.

Polygamy is allowed in Zulu tradition; Zuma has long been criticized by those who believe the practice should have no place in modern society. Among those occupying a Cabinet post in South Africa is Zuma’s ex-wife, Nkosazana Diamini, the current home affairs minister and former foreign minister.

The seventh (and newest) female ambassador currently posted in Manila, Ma Keqing of China, could not join the lunch because of a scheduling conflict. China has yet to have a female president and head of the Communist Party, or a foreign minister for that matter. But women are active in the Chinese foreign service, media and many other aspects of society. Ma is the second woman ambassador to be sent here by Beijing.

Young diplomat Delia Domingo herself had her own gender issues to confront. In the mid-1970s when she wanted to marry German journalist Hans Albert, whom she met in Bucharest, the permission of the Philippine Foreign Service Board was required – ostensibly for security reasons during the Cold War – for a female diplomat to marry a foreigner. Men were exempted from the requirement; 21 of Delia’s male colleagues, including the foreign secretary himself, Carlos P. Romulo, took foreign brides.

It took intercession from Delia’s contacts in the United Nations for the “permit to marry” to be given. The requirement was eventually lifted.

There are still battles to be fought in the women’s movement. But during Women’s Month, it’s good to look back and see how much has changed since Delia Domingo and Constantina Koliou joined the foreign service.