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Feminist Foreign Policy – different perspectives

The first time I heard of the word feminist foreign policy (FFP) was at a visit from the Australian Foreign Minister to Pakistan whilst I was Minister. It was an eloquent speech made at the Serena Islamabad for a wider audience other than cabinet Ministers and it certainly had an impact on me as a women empowerment legislator. I enquired further and discovered they were not the only nation state eager on pursuing such a course. The Swedish Ambassador in Pakistan presented me with a booklet on the same. I was also later a Member of the World Bank Gender Advisory and we discussed similar concepts from a development perspective.

 

The reason I return to it today is because of a German perspective I found recently in the FT (https://www.ft.com/content/7b855cf9-00c8-4132-b242-46365a07d44a). But before I give my comments on German Foreign Minister Annnalena Baerbock’s FFP, I wish to put forward as I had done in 2019 for various governments a minimum common agenda all Member States could pursue so as to achieve SDG 5. Here goes:

 

Paradigm shift:

  1. Gender equality is an objective in itself but is essential in achieving any government’s other overall development objectives and must be seen as an overlying objective.

Gender equity issues:

  1. To examine the different examples of the developed gender agendas whether the ‘Rights, Representation and Resource based on the Reality in which they live’, or others.
  2. To examine status of common gender equity issues like:
    1. Laws preventing women from carrying out certain jobs
    2. Countries which legally can prevent women from working
    3. Sexual harassment in workplace
    4. Rights of pregnant women
    5. Sexual reproductive health, FMG, LGBT right, and reproductive rights
    6. Early and forced marriages
    7. Human right strengthening of migrant and refugee women and girls
    8. Domestic violence laws and implementation status
    9. Increasingly ‘meaningful’ participation in cabinet, parliament, corporate boards, and international organization management key posts.
    10. Ownership disparity of land resources leading to vulnerability.
    11. Access to financial inclusion, mobile usage, banking, IT services of women in order to cover the vulnerability and information gap.
    12. Separate taxation gender friendly policies
    13. Childcare provisions and gender-neutral parental leave.
    14. Gender budget mainstreaming
    15. Participation in preventing and resolving conflicts, and post-conflict peacebuilding

Stakeholder identification:

  1. Key INGOs in the field of Gender equity who index measure failures and successes.
  2. Success story governments and role model individuals
  3. Medium sized developing countries where change can be affected

—

 

And now let us return to the current debate as seen through the German lens:

On March 1, 2023 German Foreign Minister launched the new “Feminist Foreign Policy guidelines”. She was supplemented by the German development Minister also announcing a new strategy on feminist development assistance. The two combined are an important reminder of how the two are necessary.

Interestingly on this grandiose list as per the article (https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/03/08/germany-has-new-feminist-foreign-policy.-what-does-it-mean-in-practice-pub-89224) exists countries like Canada, France, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Spain, and until recently Sweden.

 

The German guidelines are an 89 page document of which I will just give a few highlights for the sake of this blog:

  1. Safety of women and vulnerable key motivation for this policy.
  2. Feminist FP (FFP) needed because of inequalities.
  3. Rape is not acceptable as part of war.
  4. Equitable participation of women in negotiations and seat on table produces positive results.
  5. FFP must be seen in development projects host countries implement around the world.
  6. Feminist reflex must be cultivated.
  7. Woman ambassador for FFP to be appointed.
  8. Apply gender budgeting.
  9. “We know that peace and security are more sustainable when decision processes concerning security policy are inclusive by design. Greater participation by women brings greater security.”
  10. “feminist foreign policy serves all people, including those who are marginalised on the basis of gender identity, origin, religion, disability, sexual orientation or other attributes, often in multiple ways.”
  11. “This means that we will take the “three Rs” (rights, representation, resources) into consideration in our foreign policy activities. At the same time, we want these guidelines to shape the way that we work internally and contribute to a cultural shift. In all fields of action, they will help us to cultivate a “feminist reflex”.”
  12. Gender-sensitive project work in arms control
  13. Gender-based analysis
  14. Gender-sensitive export control
  15. Strengthening humanitarian arms control
  16. Gender strategy for humanitarian assistance
  17. Gender-sensitive management
  18. Increasing structural consideration for gender in the humanitarian system
  19. Menstrual hygiene for refugee women
  20. Medical care
  21. Strengthening UN programmes
  22. Training and deploying gender experts
  23. Taking a comprehensively gender-transformative approach
  24. HeForShe
  25. Confronting the pushback
  26. Strengthening the normative framework
  27. Displaying political leadership
  28. Strengthening UN programmes
  29. Expanding project work

Etc etc……

The document is a beauty, and very expansive. It should be used as a model for sure.

https://www.shapingfeministforeignpolicy.org/papers/Guidelines_Feminist_Foreign_Policy.pdf

 

However, the Swedish change in FFP must also be observed:

  • “Gender equality is a fundamental value in Sweden and also for this government,” Billström said to the newspaper Aftonbladet. “But we’re not going to continue with a feminist foreign policy because the label obscures the fact the Swedish foreign policy must be based on Swedish values and Swedish interests.” https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/10/31/swedens-new-government-abandons-feminist-foreign-policy
  • “The reversal in Sweden is in some respects unsurprising. Gender politics often fluctuate with political transitions, and waves of progressive gender equality agendas have historically met barriers and reversals. What is surprising, however, is that the founding nation behind this movement is now at the helm of its attempted undoing.” https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/11/18/sweden-feminist-foreign-policy-billstrom-gender-equality/ “Sweden’s experience has demonstrated that this approach is more than a rhetorical gesture, and it can meaningfully influence policy outcomes on the world stage. Yet even with its successes, the movement has faced continued criticism from supporters and skeptics alike, with some today calling for a “rethink.” Many have raised concerns about the agenda’s failure to match rhetoric to action and demand a precise vision as well as its lack of accountability to citizens and feminist groups. Others have criticized the movement for failing to incorporate adequately inclusive and intersectional approaches to feminism, suggesting the agenda is steeped in perceived cultural imperialism—although the introduction of Mexico’s feminist foreign policy has helped stunt critiques of the agenda as an export of the global north.”

 

My issue with the above is not the labelling, the form or the content. As a former empowerment Minister I find that such an approach THE FEMINIST FOREIGN POLICY forces countries to be more accountable to SDG5. Specially since the summit of the future is closing in on us and thus accountability is necessary; some model FFP needs to be championed by the UN and encouraged on most members. It cannot be the developed or the developing countries taking charge of the FFP. It needs to be all for one and one for all.

 

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