Gender balance in Russian diplomacy is shifting in women’s favor — Lavrov

MOSCOW, September 3. /TASS/. The gradual shift in the gender balance of Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO) graduates in favor of women would cause similar staff changes in the Russian Foreign Ministry, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Friday. The Foreign Minister disclosed that he keeps an eye on "the formation of the MGIMO student corpus, because this directly affects the formation of the Foreign Ministry staff later." "In 1990, MGIMO graduates included 304 men and 110 women," he reminded. "Even back then these numbers were comparable, but today, the gender balance is grossly violated in favor of the fair sex. In 2014, a total of 757 young men and 1066 girls graduated from MGIMO. This trend has been observed for the last 7 to 8 years, with the number of female students significantly exceeding the number of male students." According to the Minister, similar trends, if not as strong, is observed in the influx of employees to the Foreign Ministry. "The relative number of girls keeps growing, pushing men aside," Lavrov explained. "I hope that the quantity would turn into quality shortly, and we will have more female ambassadors and female heads of departments. At least, there is a plenty of them on second positions in various departments." Read more