Women of the World: The Rise of the Female Diplomat - Hardcover

Helen McCarthy

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1408840057 ISBN 13: 9781408840054

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014

Synopsis

It was not until 1946, after decades of campaigning, that British women were allowed to represent their nation abroad. Helen McCarthy tells the story of the struggle to enter the diplomatic world, played out against a backdrop of war, superpower rivalry and global transformation. She explores the ways in which women influenced foreign affairs before 1946; tells the stories of women who subsequently made the diplomatic grade; and asks whether their presence has changed the way diplomacy is done.

About this title

Review:

A lustrous book which traces the often agonising rise of women in the Foreign Office and mercilessly dissects the resistance they encountered (Peter Hennessy)

A path-breaking account, from one of our leading and most original historians of modern Britain, of how the male-dominated world of British diplomacy gradually - and grudgingly - let professional women in. It should be read by everyone who works in the Foreign Office, or in British embassies overseas, and by anyone, anywhere, who is concerned about the part that women have played, do play and should play, in the making of foreign policy and the conduct of international relations (David Cannadine)

McCarthy has produced a sometimes humorous but often dispiriting picture of what women who had set their sights on foreign posting continued to experience, long after they had won a toehold in other fields (Literary Review)

Helen McCarthy has conducted a lot of valuable interviews for her book and researched assiduously (Evening Standard)

A fascinating account of the manoeuvres of the leaders of the Foreign Office to prevent the admission of women to its diplomatic and consular services (Spectator)

The women are striking, the trajectories of their often brief careers compelling (Observer)

This pioneering study gives a penetrating, readable and most welcome introduction to a neglected set of issues, and will be gratefully received by a wide readership (Times Higher Education Supplement)

Riveting (The World Today)

As McCarthy eloquently argues in this important book full brilliant vignettes, fighting to the top is usually harder for a woman (Independent)

An account less about the rise of female diplomats than the often jaw-dropping machinations of the British establishment and the Foreign Office to keep women out of the ultimate boy's club (The Times)

Book Description:

An original, compellingly told story of women's fight to represent their country abroad in the face of opposition from the men of the Foreign Office

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
• Publication date: 2014
• ISBN 10: 1408840057
• ISBN 13: 9781408840054
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416