No Women at the Table: Critics Decry a Masculine Moment in US–China Talks

Photos of the Xi–Trump meeting in Beijing showed no women at the negotiating table, prompting critics like Harvard’s Gita Gopinath and Stanford’s Halima Kazem to say it signals a masculine, militarized, and exclusionary form of diplomacy. They note a regression from Obama-era meetings that included women and argue women’s voices are being sidelined in shaping global order. The visit did feature women in supporting roles (Lara Trump, Jane Fraser, Dina Powell McCormick), underscoring an uneven, ongoing dynamic in high-level diplomacy.