Replies

Posted the following in comments section of the Post article:

Why do the morons in the State department and the politicians continue to send ambassadors to Muslim countries who are almost guaranteed to be ignored and/or disrespected? I refer to women ambassadors of course.

The fact is that women in almost all Muslim countries have a different status in the culture. It is part of their religion and the region seems to be reverting back to a stricter form of Islam which doesn’t bode well for liberation of women.

In our arrogance, we seem to feel that by pushing our women in diplomatic jobs into positions of power that interact with government officials that we will change their culture or that they will ignore their own feelings of superiority in dealing with them.

I often wonder if Muslims don’t privately think we are insulting them and their culture by sending women ambassadors to their countries. We should take into consideration the mores of the culture that represents such a large segment of the world.

This isn’t a misogynist rant. I respect the many talented women in our diplomatic corps, but surely our purpose shouldn’t be to put their careers ahead of the national interest. Why not take the ambassadorships such as England and France that traditionally go to rich male campaign donors off the table as political plums doled out by Presidents to their supporters. Let our most talented women serve there—or in posts in countries which don’t have a religious bias against women. It isn’t our job to change the world to meet our own cultural preferences..