Nominated to be the first woman in the Itamaraty general secretariat, ambassador Maria Laura da Rocha, 67, hopes that the female presence in leadership positions in the portfolio will no longer be noteworthy.
“We want the fact that there are women in charge to be something as normal as having men,” he says to Sheet the diplomat, now Brazil’s ambassador to Romania. “We want to continue this path, to have many professionals at the top of their careers, more women in positions of command. There will come a time when we will have a Minister of Foreign Affairs, it is inevitable that this will happen over time.”
Maria Laura’s nomination for general secretariat was announced this Wednesday (14th) in a press conference by Mauro Vieira, who will take over as chancellor in the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
The name of the future minister caused frustration among part of the women diplomats and PT wings who would like to appoint a female chancellor and had to settle for second place in the hierarchy. The criticisms also took into account the fact that Vieira, when he headed Foreign Affairs for the first time, during the Dilma Rousseff administration, promoted few women in the internal hierarchy.
Maria Laura was already an ambassador in Hungary, with Unesco and FAO, the UN body for food. Fan of MPB, she even sang on the album “Rio” alongside trumpeter Chet Baker, in 1983.
What should be your biggest challenge as Secretary General of the Itamaraty? The first is not to disappoint my fellow diplomats by being named the first female Secretary General. I’m four decades into my career. We know what line to follow to maintain the quality of the Brazilian position abroad.
Brazil has always been very important —in the area of ​​climate, human rights, at the UN. We were a little out during this period [governo Bolsonaro], I hope we get back to the line we’ve always followed very quickly. My goal is to keep Itamaraty enthusiastic about the work. Those who make Itamaraty are essentially its people; diplomats, foreign officials, chancellery officials.
As the first female Secretary General, what did Ms. intend to do from this milestone? The increase in the number of women in the diplomatic career and in leadership positions has been happening gradually, sometimes more intensely, sometimes less. There was growth in the Lula administration and under President Dilma —despite having said that Mauro [Vieira] did not promote women, he only stayed for a year and a half and in a very difficult period, of crisis [durante o processo de impeachment da ex-presidente]🇧🇷
We want to continue this path, having many professionals at the top of their careers, more women in leadership positions. And the time will come when we will have a Minister of Foreign Affairs, it is inevitable. I was the first female ambassador for Unesco, the first for FAO, the first for Hungary and Romania. We had an ambassador in Paris, in Berlin, now we need to expand. Have one in London, Washington, Buenos Aires, Rome. This has to become normality, we want the presence of women in charge to be as normal as that of men.
The Group of Women Diplomats forwarded to the current chancellor, Carlos França, a document asking for greater representation of women in leadership positions and gender parity in all collegiate bodies of the ministry. Do you have any goals in that regard? Parity is a challenge because there are fewer women entering the careers, but it is crucial to have greater visibility for women. We are going to give more space at the time of promotions, removals abroad, in a kind of informal affirmative action, which has already been happening and needs to be maintained and deepened. Mauro is super in tune with that. Having women in important positions shows younger colleagues that you can get there.
Mrs. Do you identify as black? I am brown and I consider myself black, with great pride. My whole family is black and mestizo. My paternal grandmother was white, my grandfather was black, my paternal grandfather was Portuguese, and my grandmother was mestizo. I delved deeper into the racial issue when I was Ronaldo Sardenberg’s chief of staff at the Secretariat for Strategic Affairs in the FHC government, in the 1990s. I participated in a working group to propose public policies to value the black population —a wonderful job, with leaders from black movement.
Is there an idea in the general secretariat to increase the representation of black diplomats in leadership positions? Visibility is important for both women and blacks. This is also important as a fight against prejudice. I had a black colleague who, whenever he arrived to give a lecture, well dressed, driving a big car, was approached by the parking attendant, who thought he was the driver of some authority. This prejudiced view has to end, and for that we need to have blacks in command positions —ministers, parliamentarians, ambassadors, doctors— and vote for blacks.
The transition work group talks about the need to rebuild Itamaraty after the chaotic administration of Ernesto Araújo. What will this reconstruction work look like? I’m always for love. We cannot waste any minute, any neuron, with anger or hatred towards people. People assume their positions out of opportunism, out of insecurity. At Itamaraty, I hope that this division that took over society becomes lighter. The first important thing is to get back to the focus on the job we studied for and put things back where they’ve always been. What was different, the exception, was this period [governo Bolsonaro]🇧🇷
What was it like recording the album with Chet Baker? [risos] The main figure on the album is Jim Porto, a Brazilian who was taken to Italy by my husband, the Italian music producer Sandro Melaranci. Porto arrived in Italy in the 1970s. The album brought together wonderful Italian musicians. Pantoja, who worked with Djavan, was the arranger. Chet Baker was Sandro’s friend and plays on two songs on this record.
I went there because I always loved to sing. And I still like it today, I sing MPB, samba. My youngest daughter, Marina, is a professional opera singer. But the star of the record was Jim, I just did the chorus.
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