First steps toward a feminist diplomacy

Abstract

This article illustrates that an emancipatory foreign policy needs a diplomatic corps conscious of the oppression generated by the gender order. It asserts that the potential of diplomatic personnel to contribute to policies of that type has not been sufficiently explored, probably in light of their belonging to state structures that are considered oppressive. Considering this argument, this essay proposes a theoretical framework based on concepts developed by authors such as Alda Facio (feminist legal methodologies), Silvina Álvarez (relational autonomy), Miranda Fricker (epistemic injustice), Nancy Fraser (recognition as status) and Diana Maffía (networks of exclusion), among others. It describes processes of invisibilization, lack of recognition and relevant options and the emergence of negative epistemic spaces that affect women diplomats in their trajectories. Finally, it highlights the possibilities that the status of "outsider within" opens up to rethink the State and the existing relations of domination in the international system.