[Paris, February 25, 2022] – Several countries, including France, claim to practice “feminist diplomacy.” Opportunities are emerging this year to transform this concept into genuine feminist foreign policies. Equipop and its partners have organized a series of meetings and appeals to bring this issue to the forefront of the presidential campaign.
Feminist foreign policies are essential to achieving gender equality around the world. They require a complete overhaul of international relations.
The High Council for Equality believes that a policy "can only be described as feminist if it seeks to bring about lasting change, or even abolish, unequal patriarchal power structures (paradigm shift, change in institutional culture) and is long-term in nature" (see the full report).
Sweden pioneered this approach in 2014, followed by Canada, based on three pillars: the promotion of rights, the level of resources dedicated, and political representation. In France, Marlène Schiappa and Jean-Yves Le Drian announced the adoption of French "feminist diplomacy" in 2019. The French government then took several initiatives, including organizing the Generation Equality Forum, leading the Action Coalition on Sexual and Reproductive Rights, and creating the Solidarity Fund for Feminist Organizations. The "solidarity development" law of August 2021 enshrines "feminist diplomacy" in its first article. However, much remains to be done in financial and political terms. Today, the resources allocated to this feminist diplomacy, both in international solidarity projects and in the training of public administrations, are insufficient. France is still very often represented by men in high-level processes. Furthermore, there is still no official reference framework for defining a genuine feminist foreign policy, which would be a much more relevant approach than simple "diplomacy."
France holds the presidency of the Council of the European Union until June 30. The European context is particularly conducive to the establishment of feminist foreign policies. With, among other things, the election of Ursula Von der Leyen to the European Commission and the appointment of five women under the age of 35 to the Finnish government, women's place in politics is growing stronger. Finally, in recent months, Spain and Germany have also announced their intention to pursue a feminist foreign policy.
“The context is particularly conducive to the formalization of a truly feminist French foreign policy. However, at present, the subject remains absent from the debate. Candidates and their teams must take up this issue and make it a key campaign issue. We are asking them to define their vision of a feminist foreign policy for France for the next five years." – Lucie Daniel, advocacy expert, Equipop
Equipop involved in feminist foreign policy
To bring about change in this area, Equipop is currently meeting with the various campaign teams to engage with them and is co-organizing two events:
- March 2 March 2, Equipop is helping to organize theHCEfh (High Council for Gender Equality) event entitled "Towards a feminist Europe: What are the challenges at the time of the French Presidency of the European Union?" This event brings together feminist activists, representatives of European institutions, and political figures such as Helena Dalli, European Commissioner for Equality, Ann Linde, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Sweden, and Delphine O, French Ambassador for Equality.
- On March 5, the Train for Equality will stop in Strasbourg. During this stopover, Equipop will organize an event entitled "For a truly feminist foreign policy" with Oxfam, CARE France, Le Planning Familial, and ONE. This will be an opportunity to take stock of Macron's five-year term in office in terms of international policy and to share the associations' recommendations for the future government. This event is part of the Train for Equality tour, organized by the Fondation des Femmes, in partnership with Le Planning Familial, CIDFF, Solidarité Femmes, and Force Femmes. The train will travel across France until March 7 to raise awareness of the 10 emergency measures demanded by French feminist associations.Online registration.
— Press contact : Nathalie Perrotin-Milla, +33 (0)7 49 96 37 92, nathalie.perrotin@equipop.org — Equipop combines social and political mobilization, project engineering, technical assistance, and partnership building to improve the rights and health of women and girls around the world. Equipop works closely with local communities through strong partnerships with change agents, right up to the highest levels of international decision-making. Equipop promotes feminist values and places a gender-based approach at the heart of its work. www.equipop.org
