Promoting equity through institutional policy? Gendered experiences of dual career diplomatic couples in joint posting in the Swiss Foreign Service
(2025) SIMZ31 20251Graduate School
- Abstract
- As dual career couples become increasingly common, challenges related to professional mobility, and career continuation for spouses have been exacerbated, especially for couples in international professions such as diplomacy, often leading to family strain. In response, institutional reforms such as joint posting policies have been introduced to accommodate individuals’ professional and personal needs in regard to gender equity and work/family balance. The study explores how such a policy influences gender equity within dual career diplomatic couples in professional and domestic contexts, examining the experiences of dual career diplomats in the Swiss FDFA as a case study. The study employs semi-structured interviews with heterosexual... (More)
- As dual career couples become increasingly common, challenges related to professional mobility, and career continuation for spouses have been exacerbated, especially for couples in international professions such as diplomacy, often leading to family strain. In response, institutional reforms such as joint posting policies have been introduced to accommodate individuals’ professional and personal needs in regard to gender equity and work/family balance. The study explores how such a policy influences gender equity within dual career diplomatic couples in professional and domestic contexts, examining the experiences of dual career diplomats in the Swiss FDFA as a case study. The study employs semi-structured interviews with heterosexual couples who are posted jointly, following a qualitative research design grounded in feminist institutionalism and work-family border theory. These frameworks offer a lens for understanding how formal policy structures interact with informal norms to shape individual experiences in terms of leadership career progression and work/family integration. Findings indicate that while joint postings are institutionally framed as progressive and family friendly, they do not entirely eliminate gendered power structures embedded in diplomacy. Women remain more likely to carry emotional labor, navigate visibility in leadership, and contend with traditional expectations of caregiving. At the same time, men adapt to modern family structures and societal perceptions of the masculinized hierarchies. The study highlights how institutional reforms can support dual careers while still reinforcing embedded gender norms, revealing the complexities of promoting gender equity through workplace policies. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9198435
- author
- Agabu, Naomi LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- SIMZ31 20251
- year
- 2025
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- keywords
- Joint posting, dual career couples, diplomacy, institutional norms, institutional policy, work/family balance, gendered expectations, family
- language
- English
- id
- 9198435
- date added to LUP
- 2025-06-25 14:10:13
- date last changed
- 2025-06-25 14:10:13
@misc{9198435,
abstract = {{As dual career couples become increasingly common, challenges related to professional mobility, and career continuation for spouses have been exacerbated, especially for couples in international professions such as diplomacy, often leading to family strain. In response, institutional reforms such as joint posting policies have been introduced to accommodate individuals’ professional and personal needs in regard to gender equity and work/family balance. The study explores how such a policy influences gender equity within dual career diplomatic couples in professional and domestic contexts, examining the experiences of dual career diplomats in the Swiss FDFA as a case study. The study employs semi-structured interviews with heterosexual couples who are posted jointly, following a qualitative research design grounded in feminist institutionalism and work-family border theory. These frameworks offer a lens for understanding how formal policy structures interact with informal norms to shape individual experiences in terms of leadership career progression and work/family integration. Findings indicate that while joint postings are institutionally framed as progressive and family friendly, they do not entirely eliminate gendered power structures embedded in diplomacy. Women remain more likely to carry emotional labor, navigate visibility in leadership, and contend with traditional expectations of caregiving. At the same time, men adapt to modern family structures and societal perceptions of the masculinized hierarchies. The study highlights how institutional reforms can support dual careers while still reinforcing embedded gender norms, revealing the complexities of promoting gender equity through workplace policies.}},
author = {{Agabu, Naomi}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Promoting equity through institutional policy? Gendered experiences of dual career diplomatic couples in joint posting in the Swiss Foreign Service}},
year = {{2025}},
}