Entering State

Traditionally, U.S. diplomats were described as “pale, male, and Yale.” Entering State: Women’s College Alumnae as U.S. Diplomats tackles this image by studying women’s entry into this elite, exclusive profession at the intersection of higher education. In an innovative, first intersectional approach, it analyzes the role of a women’s college education for the first U.S. women diplomats in the 20th century (1909–2001). “First” official women diplomats reached the various ranks of U.S. diplomacy as political appointees and Foreign Service Officers. They were women’s college alumnae with different backgrounds who moved in various social and political contexts throughout the century. Their education on all-female campuses proved foundational to the entry into all-male professional contexts of diplomacy. The study centers women’s experiences as it connects college and diplomacy environments. Various theoretical tools including network theory approaches guide the analysis. Concepts from psychology emerge as very fruitful in this historiographical work. Drawing on oral histories and college and government archives, the study expands the scope of singular disciplines as it delivers a history of women’s entry into U.S. diplomacy.