Student experiences life as 'ambassador for a day' with Italian envoy

Diplomacy

Published: 08 Mar. 2023, 15:21 Updated: 08 Mar. 2023, 19:33

Student experiences life as 'ambassador for a day' with Italian envoy

Italian Ambassador to Korea Federico Failla, left, Choi Young-eun, a student at Yonsei University, center, and Deputy Minister and Ambassador for Climate Change Kim Hyo-eun pose for a photo at the Foreign Ministry in Jongno District, central Seoul on Tuesday. [EMBASSY OF ITALY]

Choi Young-eun, who majors in international relations at Yonsei University, had the rare opportunity to follow around Italian Ambassador to Korea Federico Failla for an entire day.

“I was impressed by how ambassadors have a positive mindset in solving international issues through diplomacy,” Choi told the Korea JoongAng Daily.

“It was an empowering experience to hear advice from people with professions, especially in a field where there are not many women like diplomacy.”

Choi was the lucky applicant who was picked to take part in “Ambassador for a Day,” an event the Italian Embassy has been holding since last year to commemorate International Women’s Day on March 8.

According to the embassy, the event began as a way to give young women the chance to experience life as a diplomat.

While the Italian embassy did not disclose how many women applied this year, it said there were 20 percent more applicants than last year.

Failla said the day aims to eliminate obstacles in improving women’s rights and gender equality, as well as inspire young women to reach higher by letting them meet high-ranking officials in different fields, including politics, science, culture and business.

The ambassador especially stressed the importance of gender equality and empowering young women in achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015, the SDG consists of 17 objectives, including gender equality, towards which member states have agreed to work for a more sustainable future by 2030.

“But we are far from reaching this equality,” Failla said.

While Italy ranked 63rd among 146 countries on the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index in 2022, Korea ranked 99th.

Among the officials that the Korean student met alongside Failla was Silvia Costantini, Counsel General of Italy in Montreal and Vice President of the Diplomatic Women Association.

Silvia Costantini, Counsel General of Italy in Montreal and Vice President of the Diplomatic Women Association share advice to the ambassador for a day during a meeting held via video stream. [EMBASSY OF ITALY]

The counsel general, who attended the meeting via video stream, said even Italy had to go through major changes for women to hold diplomatic positions.

“It took many years and a constitutional court ruling to open up the entry of the first women diplomat in 1967,” Costantini said.

However, she said she still faces several challenges even today as a female diplomat.

One is the trade-off between work and family.

“To further empower themselves, women must have a clear sense of purpose, values and integrity together with valuable relationships, life-long learning and mentoring and an atmosphere of sharing and empowerment.”

Despite continued challenges, Costantini shared how the positive aspects of women are contributing to diplomacy and the world more generally.

“The good thing is that we are different, and that is richness,” she said.

“We are able to bring another way of looking at things," she added. "And we can multitask all the time.”

At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Minister and Ambassador for Climate Change Kim Hyo-eun told the Yonsei University student that she shouldn’t yield to a male-oriented environment, encouraging her to actively respond to unreasonableness in the workplace.

The Korean deputy foreign minister, an icon for many young Korean women inspired to work in foreign affairs, met with the Italian ambassador to discuss climate change policy and cooperation between the two countries.

In recent years, Italy has made sustainability and the environment constant priorities.

“I hope that there will be many more opportunities such as the one I experienced,” Choi said.

BY CHO JUNG-WOO [cho.jungwoo1@joongang.co.kr]