About the event
Foreign policy plays a fundamental role in the advancement of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Many of the 12 Beijing critical areas of concern, as well as emerging issues, relate to complex challenges that cannot be addressed by a single country, and require cooperation at bilateral and multilateral levels. From climate change to the rise of authoritarianism, the impacts of these shifts are deeply gendered and require new kinds of solutions that can grapple with, and ultimately transform, structures of power. Feminist foreign policy (FFP) provides an exciting, hopeful and challenging framework in today’s deeply polarised global landscape to reinvigorate collective values and advance our ambitions.
Since feminist foreign policy was first adopted by the Government of Sweden in 2014, the range of actors exploring the topic has both expanded and diversified–challenging the initial, overwhelmingly European focus of this agenda. Notably, civil society and feminist movements working on feminist foreign policy have grown and formalised in multiple regions of the world. They are advancing their own unique and contextually-informed visions of feminist foreign policy, and are playing a fundamental role in issuing calls for co-creation, coherence and accountability. This event brought together leaders from various regions, with a particular focus on the Majority World, to reflect on their feminist foreign policy practices, share lessons learned, exchange ideas and recommendations, raise critical questions and build transnational solidarity.
Speakers
Jo Pradela, Director, International Women's Development Agency
María Paulina Rivera Chávez, Red Mexicana de Política Exterior Feminista
Counsellor Deweh E. Gray, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Government of Liberia
Chandy Eng, Executive Director, Gender and Development for Cambodia
Lina Abou-Habib, Director, American University of Beirut’s Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship
Marie Soulié, Head of Feminist Foreign Policy and Education Department, Government of France
Sarah Hendriks, Director, Policy, Programme & Intergovernmental Division of UN Women
Co-organizers
CREA
International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA)
Australian Feminist Foreign Policy Coalition
Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership
Feminist Foreign Policy Collaborative