The U.S. State Department is being accused of engaging in gender discrimination against men in its promotion process for foreign service positions. A study by the Heritage Foundation indicates that in 2023, women were promoted at higher rates than men across all five foreign service officer career tracks despite men being more numerous in the workforce. The career tracks include consular affairs, economic affairs, political affairs, public diplomacy, and management.
Concerningly, the report suggests that the promotional challenges for men are not a new development at the State Department. The data suggests similar disparities in promotion rates throughout the Biden-Harris government from 2020 to 2022. Additionally, a 2020 Government Accountability Office report found that between 2003 and 2018, women generally spent less time in each rank compared to their male counterparts.
“This report exposes the administration’s pattern—under the guise of ‘equity’—of promoting women at higher rates than men, with no logical explanation other than preference based on sex alone,” Simon Hankinson, a senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, said in a recent interview, adding that the “…findings urge corrective action to restore merit-based promotion.”
Since President Biden’s inauguration in 2021, efforts to strengthen diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives have been a priority. Agencies were required to submit strategies to enhance DEI, and Secretary of State Antony Blinken appointed the department’s first chief diversity and inclusion officer.
The incoming administration of President-Elect Donald J. Trump has signaled it intends to dismantle DEI initiatives implemented under Biden.
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