Cooking with Stella, a 2009 film directed by Dilip Mehta, brother of filmmaker Deepa Mehta, created quite a buzz in Delhi’s diplomatic circles, especially among women. A light comedy, about a Canadian diplomat (played by Lisa Ray) who arrives in Delhi with her husband, was largely shot inside the Canadian High Commission. Many women diplomats could identify with the scenes where Ray’s staff were agog about a woman going out to work while her husband stayed at home and learnt cooking.Cut to the summer of 2017 and things have changed somewhat. New Delhi has around 15 women heads of missions, representing countries as diverse as Kenya, Argentina and the Philippines. However, there’s still a long way to go, points out Australian High Commissioner Harinder Sidhu , since only around 10% of the missions in India are headed by women. Last month, Sidhu organised a lunch for all her women counterparts where they discussed the issues they have faced, including gender discrimination in foreign services and violence against young women in India.CB Muthamma, the first woman to join the Indian Foreign Service in 1949, had fought against flagrant gender bias in the services — a woman officer had to, for instance, obtain permission from the government to get married and she could be asked to resign because of that. From the first woman foreign secretary Chokila Iyer to Arundhati Ghose, Nirupama Rao and Meera Shankar, women have made their mark in the services.Yet the number of women IFS officers is a matter of concern. Suryakanthi Tripathi, a retired Indian diplomat and former ambassador to Spain, says that the small number of Indian women who make it to the top jobs in the foreign services is not because of glass ceiling but because very few women opt for the IFS. “Back in 1974, when I joined the foreign service we had two girls in a class of 20 and even after so many years the proportion is not too different,” she says. What are the takeaways from women heading missions in India? On the eve of International Women’s Day on March 8, ET Magazine caught up with some of them:She’s the woman caught in the middle of a big transition in the US administration. But MaryKay Loss Carlson looks at the change as a great opportunity to follow up on the strong legacy set up not just by the Barack Obama administration, but also presidents before him. “The framework is strong and the platform has taken off under Prime Minister Narendra Modi. We now hope to see a tremendous acceleration in the positive trajectory of Indo-US relations under President Donald Trump,” she says.Carlson says the posting has come at a very exciting time and on an assignment which is a dream-come-true.“This is a really good place to be in also because India has such a long and strong tradition of women leaders in positions of power at the highest level,” she says. She looks forward to travelling in India not just to enjoy the diversity of language and culture but also to meet people.“The Indians are noisy and the democracy is messy; but it’s the same in America and that’s the connection.” She says while the department of state has gender equality in the middle and lower ranks, things become tough for women at senior positions. Across cultures, priorities are considered different for men and women, she says.“The reason why women may not be vying for deputy chief of mission or chief of mission jobs is partly because they may have elder parents to look after at home and may shy away from bidding for senior positions halfway around the world.” In the first ten years of her diplomatic career she thought she would remain single but met her husband Aubrey Carlson, a fellow foreign services official, during a trip to Washington, DC. “I had to leave the job I was doing and make a career decision in moving to China because my husband was posted there,” she recalls. Although she hated making the choice at that time, she believes it turned out be good in the long run.Suzannah Jessep can proudly say that the foreign service in her country, New Zealand, is very well represented by women at all levels. While Joanna Kempkers, the high commissioner-designate for India will soon be presenting her credentials to President Pranab Mukherjee and then heading the mission, charge d’affaires Jessep is the deputy high commissioner. The head of immigration in India too is a woman and so are the two trade commissioners and the consular officer. “We are very proud of the fact that a majority of our staff here in India are women.”Even though she doesn’t deny that there is an underlying gender bias in diplomacy, she feels that meeting many inspiring women in government and civil society in India has been very positive for her. “Motherhood and childcare are challenges that many women diplomats have to face in their career paths,” says Jessep. Husband Mike Hogan, a musician and composer, is at home when she is at work and helps with bringing up their two children — Grace, 8, and Max, 5.“During my previous assignment, my children were very young and it was tiring looking after them. My husband and I made the choice that he remains at home and looks after them when I go out to work. Now they go to school,” she says. Jessep is soaking in India’s diversity and the vibrant democracy, but feels confronted every time she finds an instance of a young woman being treated differently from her male counterparts.Even as she plans an outreach programme for international women’s day with a local NGO, she will make sure that all male colleagues too join in the activity.India is among Australia’s largest missions and Harinder Sidhu chose the Delhi posting because she felt the bilateral ties were at a high point. “The relationship has accelerated quite dramatically and spans strategic, economic, cultural and people-to-people ties,” she says. Sidhu is the second Indian-origin Australian ambassador in Delhi after Peter Varghese.Sidhu, whose parents are from Punjab, says: “I never visited India when I was growing up, so now I have a great opportunity to explore my heritage and history in Punjab.” She is also part of the Australian foreign ministry’s Women in Leadership initiative. “It became evident to us a few years back that women were not moving up the ranks as much as we would like. When I joined the foreign service 30 years ago, exactly 50% of my batch were women, but when we looked at statistics a couple of years ago we found that only 27% of ambassadors were women.”She knows it is not easy. She herself returned to Canberra from a foreign posting when her child was six. Now, when her daughter has graduated, Sidhu felt liberated again to take up an overseas posting. Australia has put in place workplace flexibility. It is making efforts to tackle cultural and other unconscious biases and trying to find out why women don’t put up their hands to take up leadership positions. Efforts are also on to support spouses of diplomats.“Traditionally, the diplomat was a man supported by his wife to help in entertaining and other social duties. Now we help spouses who want to work and encourage them to travel and continue with their careers,” she says. A lot of Sidhu’s activities in India involve engaging with women leaders and running economic empowerment and leadership programmes for women.Judith Kapijimpanga likes to call herself the new kid on the block, having arrived in Delhi in January this year and presenting her credentials last month. This is her first posting outside Africa, and she’s excited that she is in a neighbourhood that has so many women heading diplomatic missions, including a few from Africa like Botswana, Uganda and Kenya. Kapijimpanga is all set to focus on economic diplomacy and enhancing bilateral ties with India.“This is my first time in India, but I feel at home because back in Lusaka we have a large community of people of Indian origin and I even went to school with some of them,” she says. While people of Indian origin in Zambia have traditionally been merchants, traders and businesspeople — most of them being fourth-generation Zambians with roots in diverse Indian states — many are making forays into manufacturing and agri industries.“Historically, since the time of Mahatma Gandhi, our two countries have been natural partners and now the Indian government is providing collaborative support in key areas of infrastructure, health and education. But I would also like to see more exchange in tourism because we have a lot to offer such as wildlife and the famous Victoria Falls. We want Indian investors to tap our country,” she says. A mother of four, she looks forward to her two daughters and son attending school and college in Delhi.“My eldest daughter is going to college in Tanzania while my husband has stayed back in Zambia to look after his business,” says the high commissioner, who is upbeat about a new era of gender equality in her country, with women being accepted in all walks of life, from senior positions in policymaking to loading trucks.Ambassador Melba Pria is known as the autorickshaw diplomat as the humble three-wheeler is her official mode of transport. She is also outspoken enough to publicly criticise the immigration policies of US President Donald Trump and has even suggested that Mexico will welcome Indian IT professionals whom the US may want to send back home.Pria has been travelling to India for 20 years and loves being in Delhi — she had in fact asked for the posting. “India is a lot like Mexico with its warmth and colours — and I live in awe. But the country also confronts you in different ways,” says Pria.Her explanation for the unusual choice of official vehicle is simple – it brings her closer to the people as she travels like millions of Indians do. As for the fumes and pollution, she feels that the Mexican ambassador can breathe the same air that the children in Delhi do, thereby highlighting environmental problems as well.Her own security on the streets of Delhi is of less concern to her than the safety of thousands of women in India. For her, International Women’s Day is about recognising women in rural India who work hard but don’t get paid. “They do productive work but don’t get paid. We need to recognise their work and contribution,” she says.When Aashna Kanhai arrived in Delhi, she was a single mother with a baby daughter. In the last few years, her daughter has grown up even as Kanhai explores life in India. There have been challenges — one of the worst being harassment by a former disgruntled male employee of the embassy from whom she faced cyber bullying.“But I took up the matter with the Delhi Police like any woman in Delhi would do rather than use my diplomatic influence,” she says. The matter has been sorted out and she is all praise for the police and the Indian government. She says her fluency in Hindi helps her to blend in easily.“My daughter and I travel around a lot in the Metro and autorickshaw. We go for picnics and visit monuments and parks,” she says. Kanhai enjoys a special bond with External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj , who communicates with her in Hindi. “I feel inspired and empowered by her. Last year, on International Women’s Day, she invited all the women heads of mission in Delhi for tea and that was truly a special occasion.” Kanhai’s discovery of India goes on alongside her diplomatic duties.This is Maria Cristina Ueltschi ’s first posting as ambassador and she is already enthralled by the colours, sights and sounds of India. Her 17-year-old daughter too is happy in Delhi. The challenge for Ueltschi is “huge”: the fact that Argentina is relatively unknown here – apart from its football team.She is trying to promote Argentina as a tourist destination for Indians seeking experiences beyond Asia and Europe. She is also pitching the Argentinian Malbec wine and wine tourism. “There are different festivals and activities around the wine industry which we think will be very attractive for Indian tourists looking out for new things,” she says.She also feels that cultural ties between the two countries can be tapped – starting with a project to translate the works of Jorge Luis Borges into Bangla and Hindi. To celebrate International Women’s Day, Ueltschi is promoting performances by tango singer Gabriela Torres who is touring India. In the last few months, the ambassador has explored quite a bit of the country, including Ajanta, Agra, Jaipur and Jodhpur.And there are many more states to go and many more people to meet. Overall, 2017 promises be a very busy year for Ueltschi, who feels that a woman diplomat, like all other women professionals, has to go an extra mile to prove her mettle.Ambassador Nina Vaskunlahti , who has been in the foreign service for 32 years, knows that moving around the world is part of a diplomat’s life. Still, India has been daunting.“The size of India with its 29 states is a challenge and I have to prioritise my work and travel,” she says. She is focused on taking Indo-Finnish relationship to a new level, with stronger ties between the political establishments, businesses and civil society of the two countries. She also spends time in Helsinki talking about India.“It is an exciting time to be in Delhi when the country is making its way forward,” she says. She wants to make Finland, a small Nordic nation, more visible in India amidst fierce competition from other bigger countries. When Vaskunlahti joined the foreign service in 1984, there were 11 women and 4 men in her batch. Today 10 of her women classmates hold senior positions in diplomatic service.“Most of them are married with kids and have made it to ambassador posts,” she says proudly about the Nordic enabling environment where gender equality is promoted in all walks of life. She is married to Dr Andreas Herdina, who lives in Helsinki. But Ambassador Vaskunlahti is happy that they meet regularly and get to spend time together in Helsinki, Delhi or somewhere in between.