MALE STATE SECRETARY vs FEMALE

With the appointment of Mr. John Kerry as the U.S. State Secretary a long spell of female hold on the post starting from Ms.Rice is coming to an end. It would have also been another Rice in the post unless the Libyan Embassy attack had taken place. Susan Rice who was the first choice of President Obama withdrew from the race obviously seeing the writings on the wall. She proves how touchy the job of a diplomat is in the American politics.

The Secretary of State, though an important post in the U.S, cannot bring about a paradigm shift in policy matters unless the President also approves. In that sense he is only a glorified negotiator. However he must be able to perform the way president wants to get  results from negotiations and that is where the choice of a S O S makes the difference.

Now that a male secretary is chosen I wonder who, the male or female, ones are better suited for the job. To give an august and pompous look for a diplomatic conference it is better a male to chair it, whereas the presence of women at the Head of the meeting has an advantage of making the air a little relaxed and it depends on the nature of the meeting to evaluate whether it helped or not. With regard to bargaining I think it is advantage women as most of the heads of states are males and they are more prone to buckle under pressure from women than from men.


 An irritated male secretary of state is more prone to shout than women and shouting has no place in diplomacy.

Then there are some men and women who are born diplomats and they carry all the ingredients for a good diplomat in their blood. Like outstanding singers they are not plenty and hard to come by. Avoiding diplomatic catastrophes alone goes a long way in the area of diplomacy  for which  I think both male and females are equally predisposed.  But men show better smartness at wriggling out of such situations than women.

The job of a secretary of state demands frequent travels and staying in different settings, meeting different people and eating different dishes. I think men are better suited for it than women as it is difficult for women to abandon family and children for a long spell unless the family is also cut out for it.

A pregnant secretary of state and its allied problems are remote possibility as few women of conceivable age qualify for the post. However the press cartoonists will celebrate it sumptuously if ever such an occasion arises.


Images: Google