Delphine O

Honestly, no. I myself immensely privileged that I did not have, and it's not dishonesty on my part. really, I was lucky enough that for these seven years, feminist foreign policy was a priority of the French government. you can look at the numbers. can look at the numbers. You can look at the different initiatives that we have launched. mean, even civil society organizations will tell you so. So it was a great privilege for me because I in the ministry at a time where everything was to be built when it comes to feminist foreign policy. There was There was nothing. There was we were working on gender equality, but my role was actually to conceive to, um, to shape and to build this feminist…

Hmm. probably yet to come. okay. I would say, yeah, because this was in the making last year, but as I said, we have increased exponentially the, what we call the gendered ODA. So the part of our ODA that is, uh, devoted to and it's, you know, it's huge progress, but it will be going down as of year, this year, generally the French ODA and ODA of most countries. it a general trend because of, uh, uh, fiscal slashes and because of a number of reasons, expenditures. Yes. Also, but, uh, it will be probably a bit more disappointing being in office right now this year and next year. And

it okay? If I say no? it arrogant? No, no, I mean, I have, there's no single person, I would say that I have met. my work environment, that is like, I would say the inspiration. relationships I have built incredibly precious to me. I would refer to a group of people and not one single person. So about 12 to 15 countries today, to 15 countries have the same position as I had. So we call them the gender envoys with the gender ambassadors. are 99% career diplomats who have done something else before who will do something else after as do all diplomats. Most of them have been sent here since the beginning in this group. And found this was the most impactful, efficient, um, rapid action tool tha…

it okay? If I say no? it arrogant? No, no, I mean, I have, there's no single person, I would say that I have met. my work environment, that is like, I would say the inspiration. relationships I have built incredibly precious to me. I would refer to a group of people and not one single person. So about 12 to 15 countries today, to 15 countries have the same position as I had. So we call them the gender envoys with the gender ambassadors. are 99% career diplomats who have done something else before who will do something else after as do all diplomats. Most of them have been sent here since the beginning in this group. And found this was the most impactful, efficient, um, rapid action tool tha…

think, um, coming from the political world and going into diplomacy, I had some extent, a similar experience of just being a woman in position of power with high level visibility and responsibility and not being taken seriously. Okay. That is unfortunately still the case for many women, especially a rather young woman. I was old when I was appointed to this posting as ambassador, the youngest ambassador. of course I was not taken seriously. I was taken for the intern when people did not know me. And it was true. It was true at the national assembly. And then it was true also at the ministry. Once people colleagues or the general public came to know that I was the member of parliament or the…

shared? Hard to say, honestly, and I feel it would be very arrogant of me to say whose responsibility it is. Partly, obviously, I mean, the UN does not exist outside of member states, which is also a thing that people outside diplomacy do not understand. There's no such thing as a standing international organization, when, you know, there's no support for member states, either political or financial. I mean, it's makeup, it's made of people, and people come from member states. So it's hard to say whose responsibility it is. think definitely member states who also let a system continue, in spite of the equality, there is clearly between some countries and others within the system. So, yeah,…

I'm not sure about the exact English phrase, but in disarray, would probably be a euphemism. I among, you know, along with many, many others who have been in this, in these places and in this world, uh, of multilateralism. I, am both, um, wondering if we are seeing the end of the international world order as was built after the second world war and possibly the end of the UN as we know it, as we know it, and as it has been functioning for the past 70, 80 years. So, I'm also wondering at the same time, is it a bad thing or a good thing? I think the bad thing is that it's not necessarily that one thing is being replaced by another is that we don't know what is going to be the thing replacing…

been a career diplomat, it would have been different. I would have had probably more pressure uh, complying with the long work hours and, you know, being present at the office until they're late. And would probably have felt more the pressure of, abiding by the unwritten rules, I would say, which are still very much present, even after the pandemic. My case was different because as a non-career diplomat, I had probably a bit more freedom and flexibility and liberty to say no. As I also knew that I was not maybe, you know, in this job or in this administration for my entire life.

with this book, I actually wanted to really narrate my day-to-day life as a diplomate. I didn't end up really using the first person because I'm a very discreet person, but I wanted to kind of explain to the general public, not just to experts and feminists and those who know about the issue, what's going on? What's going on in the background? What's going on at the UN, others, but mostly at the UN, in terms of the battle for women's rights? And I wanted to ring the alarm bell and say, you know, what's happening in Iran and Afghanistan? Because it kind of gets the focus of the media. Even what's happening in the US, this can happen any day now in any country, including my own, France. And y…

I have too many examples, somehow, not personal examples. what I have seen, so I've been seven years in the job, came into office during the first Trump administration, where there was already a backlash, but it was not as organized and as powerful, as we're seeing now, then there was a bit of a relief under the Biden administration. But we were seeing the tendency of the backlash reorganizing and refunding basically those movements, those anti gender movements, especially in the global south. then there was a second election of Donald Trump. this US administration has come as everybody has seen in the news, full fledged against women's rights and LGBTQ rights also. what's interesting is th…

wouldn't say a single decision, but I could pinpoint a few either events or projects that I have led and initiated that I'm quite proud of. The first one is obviously Generation Equality Forum, which was the, as you said, the largest conference on gender equality since 25 years. At the time of the pandemic, at a time of we were experiencing the backlash already, it was so hard to get around the table, a diverse variety of stakeholders. So, obviously, UN agencies, countries, states, governments, but also philanthropic foundations, NGOs, you know, enterprises from the private sector, and so on and so on, and to fundraise this $40 billion for gender equality through the world's pandemic. Anoth…

first of all, I have to say that my career is very diverse. In say éclectique, which means it does not really have a thread it. Sometimes I have a lot of students and young people ask me, you know, why did you choose such and such? And I say, I didn't really choose it. It kind of chose me. So, I have worked, as you have said, in politics, in diplomacy. I have worked the think tank. I have worked now as a freelance consultant. I worked at NGOs. I even launched my own startup in the media. So, I did very different things, I think, just because by nature, I'm very curious. When I was in politics, I was, as you said, elected an elected member of the French National Assembly. was representing a…

Mm-hmm. interesting. I think in France and other countries, there are a lot of stereotypes about what diplomats are and what kind of life they live. why we're doing this podcast. So, there's this phrase in France, you know, la vie fait rire au rocher, which is this kind of luxury chocolates that they used to serve in the diplomatic evenings and receptions. And a lot of people tend to think that when you're a diplomat, at least abroad, you have a luxury life and you spend your time doing receptions and going to events and it's a very easy life. I think this have been the case in the past, but this has changed a lot, a lot. So, first of all, when you work in Paris, in the capital, it's very d…

first of all, thank you and congratulations on launching Humans of Diplomacy. I'm very glad to be your first guest of honor. Well, to answer your question, I have to admit something first, is that I'm not a career diplomat. So, you may host other career diplomats in this podcast, but one of these few exceptions, at least in the French diplomatic corps, I'm an external outsider who has been working in diplomacy on and off, I did not choose a career in diplomacy, and we can probably come back to that. To answer your question, what kind of triggered me to work in, I would say, international relations and geopolitics, than only diplomacy, understood as the diplomatic corps? I come from a binati…