The Foreign Service Journal, September 2017

THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2017 13 the military and other federal agencies .” So don’t look up to reassure your- selves of the commitment to gender equality. Look down into the ranks, and ask female officers how they are treated in terms of assignments, promotions and day-to-day interactions within the workplace; how they manage the power structure dynamics; and whether they are convinced that the department’s claim of commitment to gender equality has shown results. Whether bureaus or posts have poli- cies in place to ensure equality is mean- ingless unless they are actually imple- mented and enforced. It is the everyday relationships between male and female officers in meetings, as well as whether female officers feel they are treated as equals in terms of their input and value, that determine whether sexism in the Foreign Service and the department are on the wane. Laura Livingston FSO, retired Bellingham, Washington CORRECTION The lead focus article in the print edi- tion of the July-August FSJ , “An Existential Threat That Demands Greater FS Engage- ment” by Tim Lattimer, contains an error. In the fourth paragraph of the last section, “The Role of the Foreign Ser- vice,” the last two statements are wrongly attributed to Stephanie Kinney. Ms. Kinney was, indeed, “the only FSO” involved in the 1990s climate nego- tiations. But nearly 25 years later, in 2015, it was not Kinney, but Tim Lattimer, who was “one of only two FSOs” in the core delegation in Paris. Lattimer believes the Foreign Service can, and must, do better. We regret the error, which has been corrected in the Journal’ s online edi- tion. n use them) an essential tool of diplomacy. Let’s begin changing now, before someone unfamiliar with the art of diplomacy forces change upon us. David S. Boxer FSO Embassy New Delhi Enduring Sexism at State? Tom Hutson’s May letter to the editor responding to the March cover image reminded me that the State Department may still be plagued by sexist attitudes toward female FSOs. It seems that little has changed since my 2005 retirement, which was due in large part to what I perceived as sexism within the depart- ment’s management structure. The Foreign Service and the State Department, which claim to have taken great steps to decrease the male-domi- nated and male-oriented structures that direct our policies, have a long way to go. Don’t tell me that we have had three female Secretaries of State and a number of female assistant secretaries. Those are political appointees, not rank-and-file female FSOs. I refer to how female officers are treated by their male colleagues and the often unequal power dynamics betweenmale and female officers. Want a few hints? Look to the daily micro-aggressions, where men routinely talk over and discount women’s opinions, where women are told to “smile” more and act friendlier, where women are patronized and their input and professional acumen discounted. My guess is that the results of a recent study of female Forest Service officers would be largely congruent with those of female FSOs, were such a study to be undertaken. The McClatchy Washing- ton bureau noted that the complaints of women in the Forest Service study “echoed complaints lodged by women in