Diplomatic Ladies: New Zealand's Unsung Envoys.

• Author: Hoadley, Stephen
• Position: Book review

DIPLOMATIC LADIES: NEW ZEALAND'S UNSUNG ENVOYS

Author: Joanna Woods

Published by: Otago University Press, Dunedin, 2012, 292pp, $49.99.

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Readers of NZIR will have heard of William Pember Reeves, Alister McIntosh, Frank Corner, Edmund Hillary, Don Hunn and Richard Woods. But what do they know of Maud Reeves, Doris McIntosh, Lyn Corner, Jane Mulgrew, Janine Hunn, Joanna Woods, and a dozen other 'diplomatic ladies'? They can know much more now, thanks to Joanna Woods's illuminating account of loyal New Zealand women who followed their diplomat husbands to far-away places and responded to adversity with resilience and adaptability.

First, let us get a sense of the scope of this book. Its chapters begin with Reeves's posting to London in 1896 and ends with Maria McKay's reactions to the events of 9/11 in New York. In between, chapters provide verbal snapshots, through the eyes of the 'unsung envoys', of New Zealand's posts in Moscow, Washington, Apia, Saigon, Delhi, Tokyo, Ottawa, Santiago, Paris, Nuku'alofa, Port Moresby, Tehran, Rarotonga, Suva, Baghdad, and (again) London.

Each chapter begins with the husband-diplomat's posting, then introduces the wife's perspective, ranging from enthusiasm to apprehension. The challenges she encountered, and how she coped, make up the bulk of the chapter. Woods's summaries of the political pressures bearing on the posts (ranging from war to media scandal), and accounts of the persons the diplomats encountered (ranging from kings, prime ministers and artists to spies, thieves and rascals), lift the book from a collection of ladies' magazine articles to a serious narrative, one worthy of publication by Otago University Press.

From my academic perspective the most significant chapters dealt with how the wives, expected for decades to cook for and entertain their husbands' diplomatic guests, in the 1980s organised themselves, campaigned, and achieved official recognition by the ministry. Pat Caughley, following in Marguerite Scott's footsteps, drafted a woman's bill of rights that was not adopted but which achieved an amendment to the Overseas Service Handbook acknowledging the contributions of spouses. In 1987 the Spouse's Group gained representation in the Foreign Service Association. Now spouses are allowed to work for pay while abroad, and are not automatically expected to devote themselves to cooking and carrying for the embassy.

Also of interest is a chapter devoted to 'coming out'...