By Shobha Shukla
From the diplomatic corridors to the healthcare system, Ambassador of Switzerland to India and Bhutan Maya Tissafi highlights the persistent gender gap, the economic costs of women’s ill health, and the need to defend sexual and reproductive rights.
In her thirty years of experience in diplomacy, peace building and development, Maya Tissafi has witnessed a significant transformation in the representation of women in the diplomatic service. Yet, she says, the journey towards genuine gender equality remains unfinished.
Globally, women occupy only around 21% of ambassadorial positions despite constituting half of the world’s population. For the Swiss Ambassador, while this figure reflects a deep-rooted institutional problem, it also needs to be viewed against the progress that has been made.
“When I started my career, women were still a clear minority in diplomatic leadership,” she says. Today, women constitute 40.3% of Switzerland’s diplomatic corps, an increase of about 10% since 2013. Women also account for almost 36% of Swiss ambassadors serving abroad – significantly higher than the global figure of 21%.”
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA), she points out, has set itself an even more ambitious target of achieving 45–55% representation of both women and men at all hierarchical levels by 2028.
“So, I would not describe the situation simply as a story of a persistent gap. It is also a story of significant progress. The challenge is to make that progress sustainable – and to ensure that the next generation of women diplomats does not have to overcome the same barriers that previous generations faced,” she said.
Ambassador Maya Tissafi gave an exclusive interview with CNS ahead of SHE & Rights session on gender equality and human right to health.
Diplomacy’s gender gap reflects deeper structural barriers
For Tissafi, the under-representation of women in diplomacy cannot be separated from the way diplomatic institutions have historically been structured.
“Diplomacy is no exception to institutions that were historically shaped by and for men,” she says.
She rightly points out that foreign-service careers frequently demand mobility, repeated postings abroad and long periods away from home. Such requirements can be particularly difficult to reconcile with caregiving responsibilities, which continue to fall disproportionately on women. Alongside these structural challenges informal professional networks, stereotypes about leadership and the lack of visible female role models compound the problem.
But representation can itself become a catalyst for change. Once women occupy positions where decisions are made – not merely attending meetings but leading negotiations and heading missions – the assumptions surrounding leadership begin to shift.
“Once women are present in the room – not simply as participants, but as ambassadors, negotiators and decision-makers – perceptions change as well.”
Women’s health is also an economic and development issue
The same inequalities that block women’s access to power can also block something even more fundamental – their access to health.
Tissafi’s perspective on gender equality extends beyond diplomacy. Her career has included work on health-sector reforms in Tanzania, while her academic training includes a Master of Public Health. All this has shaped her understanding of the persistent inequalities women face in accessing healthcare.
“My background in public health has taught me that health outcomes are never simply biological. They are shaped by social conditions, economic opportunities and political decisions,” she says.
Women’s health has historically been under-researched and underfunded, while medical research has frequently relied predominantly on male bodies. This has implications for the diagnosis and treatment of conditions that affect women differently. At the same time, millions of women continue to lack adequate access to maternal, sexual and reproductive healthcare.
But, Tissafi believes that the discussion needs to go beyond healthcare itself and examine the economic dimension of women’s ill health that receives less attention.
Poor health can interrupt girls’ education, limit women’s participation in employment, reduce earnings and increase unpaid care responsibilities. At household level, this can deepen poverty; at the national level it means economies are failing to make full use of women’s potential.
“Investing in women’s health,” she says, “is not only a matter of human rights and health equity. It is also an investment in human capital, economic participation and sustainable growth.”
This requires a fundamental shift in how women’s health is viewed.
“We need to stop thinking of women’s health as a specialised or secondary issue. It is a core issue of health, equality, human rights and economic development.”
This framing places women’s health firmly within the broader development agenda. Healthier women are better positioned to study, work and earn, while also contributing to their families, communities and economies.
Switzerland too is facing a pushback on gender equality
Switzerland’s reputation for strong institutions and a long-standing commitment to human rights does not place it outside the wider global debates around gender equality.
Tissafi acknowledges that “Switzerland is not immune to the broader pushback against gender equality and women’s rights that we are seeing internationally.”
It is experiencing increasingly polarised debates, including those over reproductive rights, gender-based violence and women’s role in society.
Such developments, she says, need to be taken seriously.
At the same time, she points to Switzerland’s institutional framework, civil society and longstanding commitment to human rights and gender equality as important safeguards. Women’s rights and gender equality are embedded in Switzerland’s constitutional and legal framework and form an integral part of its human rights diplomacy.
The Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs has identified five strategic priorities in its gender equality work: strengthening women’s economic empowerment and political participation; combating gender-based violence; promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights; and placing gender equality at the centre of bilateral and multilateral engagement.
Recently, at the UN intergovernmental Commission on Status of Women (CSW70), Switzerland emphasised on: effective and equal access to justice for women and girls; strengthening the rule of law and accountability (including for international crimes); combating gender-based violence (including conflict-related sexual violence); equal participation of women in decision-making; protection of civic space; and specific needs of older women and of women in detention.
Switzerland’s work on the Women, Peace and Security agenda is one example. It seeks to strengthen women’s meaningful participation in conflict prevention and peace processes while protecting women from sexual and gender-based violence in situations of conflict.
For the Ambassador, the answer to the current pushback is not defensiveness but a clearer articulation of the principles of equality and their benefits.
“The way forward is not to become defensive when these issues are challenged. It is to stand up clearly for the principles we believe in, demonstrate their value with evidence, and keep building broad support for equality,” said Maya Tissafi.
Her argument is that advancing women’s rights should not be framed as a ‘competition’ in which gains for women necessarily come at someone else’s expense.
Gender equality is not a zero-sum game
For Tissafi “Gender equality is not a zero-sum game. It strengthens societies, economies and, ultimately, peace and stability.”
Tissafi places safe abortion within the broader framework of sexual and reproductive healthcare, arguing that when safe and timely services are unavailable, women can face serious consequences not only for their health but also for their ability to participate fully in social and economic life.
“Women must be able to make decisions about their own bodies and their own health, based on evidence, dignity and access to appropriate healthcare. For me, this is ultimately about dignity, equality and the right to make informed decisions about one’s own life.”
And amid the often polarised debate surrounding abortion, she says the individual women affected should not disappear from view. “We should not lose sight of the women behind the debate: their health, their choices and their dignity must remain at the centre.”
From representation to structural change
Across diplomacy, healthcare, reproductive rights and peace building, a common thread runs through Tissafi’s reflections: representation matters, but representation alone is not enough.
The growing number of women in diplomatic leadership demonstrates that institutional change is possible.
The larger challenge now is to make that progress sustainable – to move from individual advances to structural change—so that equality is not dependent on women having to overcome the same barriers generation after generation.
(The author is a feminist, health and development justice advocate, and an award-winning founding Managing Editor and Executive Director of Citizen News Service)
