Jens Meyer / AP Photo
What do Bahrain, the Netherlands, Oman, India, Colombia, Singapore, and Lichtenstein have in common? They've all got female ambassadors stationed in Washington. According to The Washington Post, of the 182 accredited ambassadors in D.C., an all-time high of 25 are women, in what Singaporean ambassador Heng Chee Chan called a "quantum leap" over the late 1990s, when a mere five women held ambassadorial positions. Some of the female ambassadors say the spike is due to the "Hillary effect"; Clinton is a high-profile secretary of state with a clear interest in women's rights. It probably doesn't hurt that three of the last four secretaries of state have been women. And being a woman in D.C. can have major advantages. According to Chan, at diplomatic events, she's ended up in prime seats, next to Henry Kissinger or George W. Bush, due to male-female seating patterns.