Walking the Talk

Why we need feminist foreign policy

The UN goal to reach gender equality by 2030 is also badly off course. A backlash against sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) has been steadily gathering steam alongside growing sexual and gender-based violence and criminalization of LGBTIQ+ rights. Post-Covid, more women than men remain out of work. Worse, this global women’s rights emergency is colliding with a global climate emergency that subjects women and girls to disproportionate loss of life and livelihoods.

We want a world where women and LGBTIQ+ persons play an integral role in political decision-making, and governments take concrete steps to address inequalities. Yet for too long, women and LGBTIQ+ persons have been left out of foreign policy, resulting in decisions on security, peace, international alliances, climate change, or trade, for example, that don’t reflect their interests.

In the current context, where conservative movements counteract the progress of women’s and LGBTIQ+ rights, it is crucial to hold governments accountable for the implementation of their feminist policies and ensure they “walk their talk.” For a vibrant, inclusive, and resilient international movement for gender equality, progressive organizations in the Majority World (countries with the largest share of the global population) led by women and LGBTIQ+ persons need sufficient and reliable funding. Whether that is through ODA or other channels.

Our goals

By 2026 we aim to have achieved these outcomes:

• The foreign policies and ODA of the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the EU reflect the priorities and ideas of feminists from the Global South and North.
• There is more and better funding available for gender equality, through ODA or other channels, in these four countries and at the EU level.
• Funding from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and the EU is more accessible for feminist organizations from the Global South.

Our approach

This program is led by a consortium of organizations based in four European countries: Equipop in France, Restless Development in the United Kingdom, the Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy in Germany, and Hivos in the Netherlands (leader of the consortium). Additionally, we plan to have a small team in Brussels to engage with Brussels-based NGOs as well as EU decision-makers.

To effectively push for foreign policies and ODA that leave no one behind, we need to mobilize our (inter)national networks. Working together for more feminist, inclusive, and equitable foreign policies will also contribute to the progress of Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5).

We actively challenge binary notions of gender, embrace gender and sexual diversity, and take an anti-racist and intersectional approach. While we are a consortium of organizations based in the Minority World, and focus our engagement work on decision-makers (and the wider public) in Europe, our work will be steered by rightsholders from the Majority World. This means that South-North co-creation is at the heart of our consortium strategy, research, communication, and advocacy efforts.

We will also create inclusive spaces such as annual Feminist Advocacy Conferences, and more intimate Advocacy Labs, where feminists from the Majority and Minority World can co-strategize on the best way to convince decision-makers in the North of their ideas.

Where

In the four focus countries, we face different political contexts and stages regarding the adoption or implementation of FFPs, and therefore have different goals. For France, Germany, and the Netherlands, which have adopted a FFP, the focus is on translating these commitments into concrete policies, ensuring that funding reaches progressive feminist organizations in the Global South, and holding these governments accountable for their policies.

While the Netherlands announced the introduction of a FFP in 2022 and held a major conference in early November 2023, the proof is in the pudding. After Geert Wilders’ far-right Freedom Party won the November 2023 elections, we will have to intensify our efforts to make sure that the announced FFP indeed moves ahead.

In the United Kingdom and the EU, we will be contributing to much of the groundwork needed to ensure more progressive policies and practices on gender equality and funding for ODA.

Period and budget

August 2023 – July 2026, 7 million USD.

Donor

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

Partners

Restless Development, Equipop, Centre for Feminist Foreign Policy (CFFP), Hivos