THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL | SEPTEMBER 2023 15 The picture is more complicated when one examines specific job categories. Underrepresented groups have long suggested that high-profile jobs are reserved for white males. Is this true? We can see in Graph 2 that while consular and public diplomacy jobs are close to parity, political, economic, and management jobs are disproportionately male. This is significant because the expectation at the State Department is that political and economic jobs are feeder jobs to positions of higher authority. That said, our analysis shows more females than males over the past decade in principal officer assignments. Why might this be? Perhaps female officials are on average better qualified than their counterparts, leaders are going out of their way to select females for high-profile jobs, or women are disproportionately landing in less significant principal officer spots, such as one- or two-person outposts far away from capitals. Our data on race and ethnicity is less accurate given the uncertainty of identifying these characteristics from names alone. The gap in terms of ethnicity, nationality, and cultural diversity is wide. Though the non-white and white proportions appear to diverge over time (see Graph 3), we estimate at least a 50 percent discrepancy between the two groups even today. If more detailed (but carefully anonymized) data is made public, one would be able to answer many more vital questions at the State Department. Which mid-level jobs lead to high-profile positions down the road? What experience, skill, Graph 1: The Gender Gap Graph 2: The Gender Gap by Job Category Graph 3: The White vs. Non-white Gap
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy ODIyMDU=