The Foreign Service Journal, March 2016

46 MARCH 2016 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL FOCUS WOMEN IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE Female members of the Foreign Service of the 1950s through the 1990s break through barriers at the Department of State. T his selection of excerpts from the oral histories of three retired female Foreign Service officers—Elinor Constable, Phyllis Oakley and Mary Olmsted—brings to life the atmosphere of the Foreign Service in the second half of the 20th century. These are but a few voices from that era, but they convey the spirit and determina- tion of the generation that witnessed and helped open the way for women in the career Foreign Service. We are indebted to the oral history collection developed and maintained by the Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training (www.adst.org) . —The Editors ‘Show Me the Law…!’ ELINOR CONSTABLE I had no particular career ambitions. My idea was to work at something that was interesting and fun. I didn’t want to be a secretary. That was the other thing women were supposed to be [in the 1950s]. … And the notion that this was what every woman was destined to be, was nuts. I passed the written exam with flying colors. … I would describe the process as extremely patronizing, particularly towards a woman, and subjective. … A month or so before we were married [her fiancé was also in the Foreign Service], I was summoned to the executive direc- Challenging Tradition tor’s office in the Economic Bureau. The executive director in those days was a legendary figure by the name of Frances Wil- son. We were all terrified of Frances, but she congratulated me on my engagement, and I was touched. My goodness, how nice. And then she said, “When do you plan to resign, Miss Greer?” And I said, “I don’t plan to resign.” … No woman had ever done this in the history of the Foreign Service. I said, “You can’t force me to resign. If you want me out, you have to fire me.” She said, “Miss Greer, you are required to resign.” I said, “Showme the regulation. Showme the law. Where is it?” Well, there wasn’t one. This came as a shock. I was quite prepared for her to pull out a book, and show me some regula- tion, and at that point I would fight it as far as I could. There was none! It was custom, plain old custom, buttressed by two practical limitations. One, you did not have to grant maternity leave to women in those days. … And second, there was a restriction on the books about family members work- ing together at the same post. But we were in Washington, and I said, “This makes no sense. I am not going to be a different person after I am married. Nothing is going to change. And I am going to continue to do this job.” We started our family right away and there was no such thing as maternity leave, so at that point I did resign. … [Some years later, in 1973], we returned to D.C. and I went back to work. … Peter came home with a pink copy of a mes- sage describing the new policy about women in the Foreign Service, inviting women who had been forced out to reapply. … When I rejoined the Foreign Service, I had been in the Civil