The new class at the Rio Branco Institute, where his diplomatic career begins in Brazil, will this year have the highest female participation in the institution’s history: of the 36 admitted, 15 are women — around 41%.
The index reached the highest level with the nomination of two candidates approved in the quota system in 2017 and admitted after a court agreement.
Considering only this year’s public contest, 13 of the 34 vacancies were occupied by women (38% of the total). This is the highest percentage in the last 30 years. In the period, the average number of candidates approved in the selection process is 23.54%, according to Itamaraty.
In 2018, the proportion was even lower. Four years ago, the contest selected only three women in a class of 27 people —11% female participation. Since then, the gender gap has narrowed with each new contest.
One of those approved to start a diplomatic career this year is Adriana Gabinio, 27, from Paraíba. “It’s a historic number of women, I’m extremely happy, not only for myself, but for all my colleagues,” she says. “The photo of our class is very beautiful, with different women, very much like Brazil.”
In the 2022 contest, six black women were selected, of which five through the quota system and one in the broad competition. In addition to them, the class will have two more quota candidates admitted after a judicial imbroglio.
For Gabinio, this serves as a motivation for future candidates. She herself says that the direct performance of Brazilian diplomats such as Laura Delamonica, Fernanda Mansur and Maria Luiza Viotti, played an important role in her trajectory.
She started studying for the Itamaraty contest in 2018, on the occasion of the centenary of Maria José de Castro Rebello Mendes’ entry into the ministry, the first woman in Brazil to enter the career.
Irene Vida Gala is one of the Brazilian diplomats who has been working to “propaganda of women in Itamaraty”. For her, the record female participation results from a collective effort by the group of women diplomats to open doors to other colleagues, without the support of the institution itself.
“If in the next selection we confirm a greater number of women, we can say that it really is a trend due to an effort to publicize the presence of women in the diplomatic space”, he says.
With a 37-year diplomatic career, the deputy head of the Itamaraty office in São Paulo says that, at the time of her entry, there was a discussion about the use of the feminine gender in the mention of the position of third secretary when the post was held by a woman .
In the portfolio, this is the first post of a diplomat. It is possible to progress to the rank of ambassador (first class minister). Between the extremes are the ranks of second secretary, first secretary, adviser and second class minister.
The rules to advance follow requirements such as minimum time in class, period of service abroad, experience in leadership positions in some cases, in addition to a vote between peers and bosses.
For Vida Gala, the progressions are still not very transparent, and objective criteria for promotion are lacking. According to her, the male predominance in the middle means that there is a concentration of power that hinders the evolution of women in the diplomatic career.
The difficulty is due to the absence of women in command positions, says retired diplomat Maria Celina de Azevedo Rodrigues, president of the Association and the Union of Brazilian Diplomats. “These positions are the ones that decide and vote on the people who are going to be promoted.”
For both, the underrepresentation of women in the highest career positions is a structural problem. “A sexist career like ours takes away from women the possibility of dreaming of privileged spaces of power”, says Vida Gala.
Itamaraty has never been led by a woman, but there are changes on the horizon. In Brazil, the ministry registered, in the list of promotions for June, a record percentage of women in all career positions, above 30%.
