The Diplomat
King Felipe VI presided yesterday, at the Diplomatic School in Madrid, the ceremony of presentation of graduation diplomas as Secretary of Embassy to the members of 74th Course of the Diplomatic Career, the first in history with a greater number of women than men.
The ceremony took place two days after the publication, in the Official State Gazette (BOE), of the resolution of the Secretary of State for Public Service appointing the new officials of the Diplomatic Service. The new promotion, made up of the 35 persons who were approved last July in the competitive examination phase, has 21 women and 14 men. Therefore, this is the first promotion in the history of the Diplomatic Service with more female than male representation.
“This promotion has made history as it is the first in which there are more women than men,” said the King during his speech. “It is a milestone that reflects a social reality in which more and more women develop the action of the State in the different bodies of the General State Administration and access positions of responsibility,” he added. “It is news, and let’s hope that in the future it will stop being news,” he continued. “You are joining the diplomatic service of a great nation,” he said, addressing the 35 new diplomats. “You can consider yourselves very fortunate to be able to work for a country like ours. I encourage you to do so with patriotism understood as a spirit of service, with humility and confidence,” he concluded.
Felipe VI was accompanied at the ceremony by the Ambassador-Director of the Diplomatic School, Santiago Miralles; the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares; the Undersecretary of Foreign Affairs, Luis Manuel Cuesta; the Secretary of State for the European Union, Pascual Navarro; the Secretary of State for Ibero-America, the Caribbean and Spanish in the World, Juan Fernández Trigo; and the Secretary of State for International Cooperation, Pilar Cancela.
The event began with the reading of the new Embassy Secretaries by the Deputy Director of the Diplomatic School and continued with the presentation of the despatches, after which Paloma Díaz Topete, number one of the graduating class, addressed the attendees, to whom she emphasized “the immense honor it means to serve our country and our citizens”.
For his part, José Manuel Albares stressed the importance of the training and preparation of Embassy Secretaries in the promotion of the interests and values of Spain in the world, took advantage of the high presence of women in the new promotion to praise the feminist policy in foreign action and recalled the great challenges facing Spanish diplomacy, such as the war in Ukraine and the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU.
The number of women entering the Diplomatic Service has increased over the last few years, and the last promotion, the 73rd, was the first ever, with 17 men and 17 women. According to the data provided by the Ministry in March 2021, Spain currently has 687 male and 279 female diplomats.
