European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                July 1985 the stars and stripes Page 17 foreign service the dilemma of dual career couples by Maureen Santini associated press during the nearly three years that Kay Hartley was separated from her husband by an she Learned not to cry during their Telephone talks each that was Rule she he  Deal with being that far away and not being Able to Fred and Kay Hartley Are a dual career couple Shes a therapist and Hes a Diplomat and the dilemma they faced is becoming increasingly common place in the foreign foggy onetime bastion of Ivy pinstriped has been hit by the women movement in a big i dont know where were going to get foreign serv ice officers in the says Andrew a career Diplomat who has written a Book about the Diplo Matic i dont see Many spouses in the next dec Ade who will be willing to travel around the world As its going to be increasingly difficult to keep foreign service officers if they have spouses with professional As Many of them two career couples May symbolize the changes being wrought in a system that was based unofficially for years on having foreign service officers and their Famias a represent the United states at its mis Sions but even in on career the traditional role of Dutiful wife serving without pay As caterer and Counselor is under a group of foreign service wives is pushing a plan to pay spouses for the work they do at foreign perhaps the fastest growing trend in the foreign service today is the proliferation of tandems Cou Ples in which both partners work in the foreign affairs both Are foreign service offi in some they met in the foreign service and subsequently in other wives of career diplomats who ultimately decided they wanted salaried careers of their own simply opted to join the foreign i facetiously say wives sit around at the Post and look at what everybody doing and i can do this stuff As Well As these and there says William director of the office of policy and coordination in the state departments personnel by they take the the wives Are among about people who take a grueling written examination each year that is the first step toward becoming a career most of them have advanced degrees and Are in their late 20s or Early the who pass Are invited Back for a More grueling Daylong Oral that pares the group Down to about from that number will emerge about 200 Junior foreign service the career candidates have about five years to gain tenure As they set out on a slow ascent up through the the Pinnacle is reaching the senior foreign service and obtaining a Post As the average career Diplomat now spends about 28 years in the foreign earns a maximum and retires at despite the state departments efforts in the past decade to break its White male there Are very few women and minorities at the at the Start of this the senior foreign service officer corps was percent White the mid level corps was percent White male and the Junior corps was percent White of the total foreign service Are 711 252 155 65 asian and 13 american Indian and of the 130 or so ambassadors around the Only two Are one of Rozanne ring is a foreign service officer who came up through the the Millicent is a political appointee nominated by president until the state department had a Rule that basically required female foreign service officers to resign if they and required foreign service wives to work for nothing abroad if they didst want to jeopardize their husbands like Many other Marlene Eagleburger had to quit the foreign service after her she spent 23 years As a foreign service accompany ing Lawrence Eagleburger to various posts including to where he was i found out what ambassadors wives had to do and i was she recalled it was a full i dont see Many spouses in the next decade who will be willing to travel around the world As its going to be increasingly difficult to keep foreign service officers if they have spouses with professional As Many of them Andrew career Diplomat time when they returned to the United Eagleburger raised eyebrows by suggesting at a meeting of the wives of senior foreign service officers that spouses be paid for the work they do even though the state department technically had stopped forcing wives to perform chores in foreign in actuality Many women found it Imp act if not downright to avoid embassy duties and representational appearances on behalf of the United its a package Deal when you Are Eagleburger you Are America whether you like it or after several years of Eagleburger and others have drafted a proposal to have the govern ment pay spouses of foreign service officers who choose to work at missions such activities As building morale within the performing traditional chores such As or using their skills to help Host countries would be a salary of about has been Susan a foreign service spouse and one of the authors of the said it was designed to allow spouses to polish and enhance their partly to help those who May wish to embark on careers once they return to the United states to compile a work while the proposal already has support from some quarters in it is certain to face opposition from budget the state department Hast yet decided whether to support Bacchus was sceptical that the proposal could provide the kind of career that its sponsors and said he feared it could be seen As a make work if the government is going to pay spouses its got to be in return for real services that Are truly he yet the associates proposal wont solve the problem of spouses like Hartley who cannot or will not take years at a time away from their anyone on an institutional career ladder is going to face a particularly difficult says David a retired foreign service officer who once held the 3 Job in the state Newsom says the top Challenge facing the foreign service was the problem of working were in an age where the role of the spouse has changed dra and the working spouse with a career in the states is less than enthusiastic about accompanying the other spouse Bacchus estimated that 10 percent of married foreign service officers go overseas unaccompanied by to such separations arc Dennis president of the american foreign service which represents the mentioned a situation in which a woman was working in while her husband and child lived in that not the sort of family unit that we normally want to and we Are extensions of America Over Hays we think of ourselves in terms of families living in the country and when we cant do that it limits us in Bacchus the state department is keenly aware of the growing number of working and were going to have to Cope with it in a variety of he i dont think theres any Quick fix people will ultimately make a Choice As to whether they can continue to work in the foreign service or whether they want to do something the threat of separation because of dual careers is one Factor that has led to tandem who now approach 10 percent of the foreign the state department tries to place tandem couples at the same Post but that becomes difficult when one member of the couple reaches the senior since a spouse cant supervise his or her if you Are a you feel you Are discriminated against and it hurts your says Julia a press officer who has formed an organization for Tan dem if youre you think tandems get preferential the department once tried to favor but Bacchus says we had to Cut Back because it was Clear it was unfair to other members of the now we have tended to Tell them that if push comes to they May have to Tell us whose career to Advance at the Bacchus if the couple is willing to go to some of the less attractive then Well Bend the rules a Little for spouses like Hartley who have no de sire to join the foreign the Hartley will face the dilemma again next year when Fred Hartley will be in line for another foreign with tape Worth of Telephone and nine the Hartley managed to Cope with their first which began in they chose to live apart because a daughter didst want to leave her High school friends and Hartley was immersed in her but it want i dont think i would risk it said Hart once is echoes her husband in a separate now they have another since Hartle has 22 years of service As an officer at the information this time he May just