The Foreign Service Journal, July-August 2023

44 JULY-AUGUST 2023 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL THROUGH THE REARVIEW MIRROR THE 1970S REFORM OF WOMEN’S ROLE IN DIPLOMACY Marguerite Cooper, a Foreign Service officer from 1956 through 1986, was president of the Women’s Action Organization of State, USAID, and the U.S. Information Agency (1976-1978) and vice president for State (1978-1980). Upon retiring, she worked on the presidential campaigns of Michael Dukakis and Bill Clinton and several congressional and local races (1987-1992). Returning to California in 1994, she led the South and Central California FS Alumni group until 2012. From 2000 to 2022, she was an officer of the National Women’s Political Caucus. A participant recounts the beginnings of women’s quest for career equity five decades ago. BY MARGUER I TE COOPER I t is helpful in moving forward to look back to see where we have come from as we seek a diplomatic service reflective of the American population and values. This article will briefly summarize what near ground zero looked like 50 years ago for women and their struggle to end the discriminatory policies and practices that had restricted their status and roles in the foreign affairs agencies. It is based on my own experience as a woman Foreign Service officer at the State Department, as well as interviews conducted at the time by others and held in Radcliffe College’s Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America. The 1960s and 1970s were a time of ferment in America. The country was torn by conflicts over civil rights, the Vietnam War, and political issues, including the so-called “liberation” of women. The leadership and personnel systems at the Depart- ment of State and other federal agencies reflected some protec- tive but outworn assumptions about “proper” gender roles. That put women’s rights and responsibilities on the reform agenda, as described by Barbara Good in her January 1981 FSJ article, “Women in the Foreign Service: A Quiet Revolution. ” Where We Were It seems ludicrous now, but when I joined the Foreign Service in 1956, women made up only 4.6 percent of FSOs and FOCUS DEIA: FOUNDATIONS FOR PROGRESS