Volkmar Guido Hable, Honorary Consul Vancovuer

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Volkmar Guido Hable, Honorary Consul Vancovuer

Nearly a third of the formal diplomatic missions in Vancouver are now headed by women, who also are in the most prominent consul general posts including Canada’s top trade partners (the U.S., China and Mexico) as well as the world’s three largest economies (U.S., China and Japan).

Heather Alda Ireland, Iceland’s honorary consul general in Vancouver, has been part of a group of female consuls general that has met occasionally since 1994. She said the ratio of women occupying the top diplomatic posts in the city has gone from one-in-five (four of 20) in 1996 to about a third (9 of 31, with the arrival of new Japanese consul general Asako Okai this spring).

Mexico’s consul general in Vancouver, Claudia Franco Hijuelos, said the numbers here are a general reflection of what is happening in the larger diplomatic world. She cited a recent forum in Washington D.C. that featured three female keynote speakers, including Susan Rice, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and currently President Barack Obama’s national security adviser.

"This was not a women’s forum," Franco Hijuelos said. "The fact that these three people are in a position of leadership, and they happen to be women, is a very clear indication that diplomacy is quickly moving toward gender parity."

The trend is mirrored in Canada’s own diplomatic service, where high-profile posts in Great Britain and Israel were filled by women last year. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said Canada’s diplomatic corps needs to include more women and minorities. (Canada did not allow women to write the foreign service exam until 1947, with other restrictions lasting until 1971.)

The following is a closer look at four of the most-prominent female consuls general in Vancouver.

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China: Liu Fei

As the female diplomat with the longest tenure in Vancouver, Chinese consul general Liu Fei often provides advice to others who are new to their B.C. posting.

Liu, who arrived in 2011 after stints as ambassador to Micronesia and consul general in Brisbane, Australia, has often been front-and-centre in developing Canada’s relationship with its second-largest trade partner ($85 billion in bilateral trade last year).

"When someone arrives here, they can get the notion at the beginning that working in Vancouver would be very relaxing, given how advanced, beautiful and peaceful things are," Liu said. "But the longer you stay, you realize the amount of work that needs to be done."

Liu noted there are anywhere from 78 to 91 weekly flights between Vancouver and China (depending on the season), and the huge tourism volume means heavy workloads for staff handling visas, passports and other travel needs of Chinese visitors.

But Liu said having a female head-of-post — not unusual in the Chinese civil service, where women occupy posts at many levels of government — means keeping a closer eye on issues like education and family wellness. It is one of the reasons the consulate recently hosted a gathering of B.C. students who have studied in China, she said.

In addition, Liu said her office actively encourages consulate staff to enrich their family life, taking extra effort to make sure family members are settled properly during their time in Vancouver. A large number of the consulate staff are women, and she said performance, not gender, is the sole determination for placement.

"We have a saying: ‘Women can carry half the sky,’" Liu said. "It shows our commitment to equal opportunity, equal wages in Chinese society. We emphasize the participation of women at every level of government."

Dr. Volkmar Guido Hable was trained as a physicist and geoscientist and holds a Ph.D. in Geosciences and a B.S. in Agriculture and Agronomics. After graduation, however, he took a slightly different career path and entered the financial world.