All the high representative’s men

Date: 13/04/06

A sign of success for the common foreign and security policy (CFSP) is that in a remarkably short period of just eight years, nine EU special representatives (EUSRs) have already been appointed.

From the Middle East to Afghanistan, these individuals deal with international issues and crises on behalf of the Council of Ministers and report directly to Javier Solana, the high representative.

Peter Semnby, the ninth EUSR, was appointed in February to deal with the complex issues in the South Caucasus. A Swedish career diplomat and undoubtedly a highly qualified official, his appointment signifies the failure of the EU in its approach to special representatives, because just like the eight other EUSRs, Semneby is a man.

Unfortunately, there is nothing surprising in this fact; it is statistically on a par with the United Nations, the international organisation with the most comparable officials. Of 65 special representatives of the UN Secretary- General Kofi Annan, fewer than five are women. In other words, only one in 11 or 12 are women - meaning that none in nine can be deemed acceptable. Except that it cannot and should not.

The EU prides itself on equal opportunities, but its institutions are yet truly to gender parity. The European Commission has made strides in this direction and there are now more female commissioners than in any previous college. But a glance through the Commission representations overseas makes dismal reading from a gender perspective, with the vast majority being headed by men. In this way the EU, while often preaching equality and demanding that others implement schemes in this area, is offering the world the same imbalanced representation.

Across the road from the Commission, the situation is worse: women are yet to make a serious breakthrough in the Council. To be sure, there are women in a number of relatively senior positions, but none at real decision-making levels. In itself, this situation needs to be addressed, but it does not necessarily account for the gender balance in EUSRs. For as Council officials are the first to point out, EUSRs are usually, like Semneby, diplomats on secondment from the member states rather than Council officials - and it is to capitals that failings on gender balance, as all other failings, should be addressed.

This is true, to a point. If the Council has no proper funds or authority to send its own people, it should be the business of the member states to ensure a proper gender balance when selecting EUSRs. It should, however, not be a problem at all. The foreign offices of all member states are bursting with highly qualified women, as are other relevant national government departments such as ministries of justice or development. What is patently missing, however, both in member states and the Council, is the will to promote women to these positions.

Council officials do not feel comfortable in discussing the issue of gender imbalance - not least because most of them see no problem with it. In a recent informal gathering a senior official suggested the Council keep an updated list of UN special representatives of the secretary-general from EU member states as a pool from which to appoint EUSRs. The idea was to increase synergies between the UN and the EU - but the official totally failed to see that such a move would also ensure permanent gender imbalance, given the abysmal UN statistics in this matter.

This predictably depressing discussion of gender should actually have been out of place within the context of common foreign and security policy: the EU is the newest entrant into the world of international politics and crisis management and it should therefore have started from a more enlightened position. Instead, it has chosen to follow the deep grooves of all the states and organisations that have gone before it - sending out lots of men in grey suits, with women somewhere in the background.

• Ilana Bet-El is an academic, author and policy adviser based in Brussels.

Article on the gender imbalance in the European Union's Common and Foreign Security Policy.