The Foreign Service Journal, May 2011

22 F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L / M A Y 2 0 1 1 The Role of Spouses and Partners For many Foreign Service em- ployees, their families are what carry them through the long hours and difficult living conditions. “I think anybody who’s married knows that if your spouse or signif- icant other is happy, then you’re happy,” says Lino Gutiérrez, a for- mer ambassador to Argentina who took over as executive director of the Una Chapman Cox Foundation last December. The foundation has for years been an indispensable source of funding for State’s Family Liaison Office, supporting programs to ease stresses on families living overseas. A spouse who loves adventure and travel can be a Foreign Service employee’s savior when times are tough. But just as often, family issues can pose the most signif- icant challenges for Foreign Service employees. A spouse or partner who expects everything overseas to be as easy as it is back home can make an employee’s life harder. “When I was single and could throw myself into a danger-pay post with no problem, or could have a Wash- ington job that was 10 hours a day, 5.5 days a week, there was not much work-life balance. But I was starting my career and was single, so it wasn’t too difficult,” says John Naland, a two-time former AFSA president who’s now approaching the end of a 24-year Foreign Service career. “As I’ve gone on and gotten married and had two kids, it’s gotten more and more difficult.” There’s no getting around the fact, Foreign Service employees say, that spouses make huge sacrifices to allow their husbands and wives to serve abroad. Unless their employers are unusually flexible, they experience high levels of unemployment. In fact, their employment rate is more than 10 percentage points lower than that of couples back in the United States. And when they do find work, it’s usually outside their chosen field and can be frustratingly menial for people who may have had high-powered professional jobs at home. Gay couples have it even tougher: even if they are married under state laws, the department is severely lim- ited in terms of the assistance it can render. For more details, see the May 2009 Speaking Out column in this magazine, “Hope for Gay and Lesbian Foreign Service Employees,” by 20-year Foreign Service veteran Steven Gieger- ich. Not long after that commen- tary appeared, State began ac- cording same-sex partners the same employment preferences it gives married couples of the op- posite sex. Dissatisfaction about employ- ment opportunities for spouses and partners is pretty much universal, with good cause. A 2010 AFSA survey of active-duty members found that 61 percent of spouses were unem- ployed. Nearly three-quarters (72 percent) who did have jobs worked in embassies or consulates. Of those, nearly seven in 10 were in support positions and more than six in 10 were working outside their preferred field. Finding Meaningful Employment Among the issues raised by Foreign Service employ- ees who responded to AFSA’s most recent member sur- vey, spousal employment was far and away the one they said created the most stress. At the same time, though, employees raised few complaints about the State De- partment’s efforts to help spouses and partners find work. Many acknowledged that opportunities have ex- panded, but noted that the nature of Foreign Service work is such that family members inevitably are required to make sacrifices. The department has made reaching bilateral work agreements, which allow spouses to work in the host country, a priority. And it gives preference to qualified spouses for embassy jobs, many of which are low-skill po- sitions. At the same time, it’s also expanded the array of positions available through the Professional Associates Program, which allows family members an opportunity to work in Foreign Service entry-level positions in the FS-4 to FS-7 range in a broad array of sections and spe- cialties, including political, economic, public diplomacy, management, general services, human resources, finan- cial management, office management, information man- agement and medical (both physicians and registered nurses). Applicants must commit to serving a minimum of one year in the position for which they apply. State has also expanded its Global Employment Ini- tiative, which is designed to help family members find work in the local economy. Global employment advisers F O C U S Even in more routine posts, Foreign Service culture integrates work and play more than would a typical job back in the United States.