Page 9 - A Gender-Sensitive Indian Foreign Policy- Why? and How?

Indian Council
of World Affairs

A feminist foreign policy, it is said, adopts an intersectional
approach to questions of peace, security, economic well-being
and development, from the viewpoint of the vulnerable and
under-represented sections of society

Foreign policy, across a wide swath of countries, has tended to be gender-
blind. But the scenario is changing. In 2014, Sweden became the first country
to articulate what it termed a feminist foreign policy saying that such a policy
would focus on more representation of women in international politics, equal
access to resources for women and respect for women’s rights, centered on
gender equality, and that it was an idea based on Joseph Nye’s idea of “Smart
Power”. It was aimed at including half of the population that so far has been
almost systematically excluded and forgotten — namely, women. Since then
France, Canada, Mexico and the Netherlands have been some of the other
countries who have come out with their own iterations of the idea. A feminist
foreign policy, it is said, adopts an intersectional approach to questions of
peace, security, economic well-being and development, from the viewpoint
of the vulnerable and under-represented sections of society. Given that
nationally, the policy of our government is to further the cause and welfare of
our female population, their health, education, livelihoods, and their upward
mobility and representation in key national institutions, there should be no
barrier in our articulating these basic values in the definition of our global
outlook and our foreign policy. For instance, the government could consider
appointing a female Ambassador for Global Women’s Issues (as the Obama
administration did with Melanne Verveer) or create an office for Policy
Planning on Women in Foreign Policy that would look at the whole gamut
of women’s representation in policy making, ensuring that women’s issues,
inclusion and diversity find a place in our development diplomacy, disaster
management, humanitarian assistance, and also in regional cooperation in
trade, education, and health, as also ensuring a voice for women in conflict
prevention and peace-making.

One of India’s founding ‘mothers’, as I would call her, Kamaladevi
Chattopadhyay saw man and woman as comrades of the road, going
forward together, a wonderful image to express for this week when we mark
International Women’s Day. Her world-view was grounded in the realization
that the women of India, particularly, have to provide a global outlook
that moves beyond insularity towards a cooperative world order based on
decency, peace and happiness. Of course, the question of being male or
female has nothing to do, as Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit once said, with the duty
of both sexes to take their part in world affairs. Feminists can come from
both genders. 9

A GENDER-SENSITIVE INDIAN FOREIGN POLICY Why? and How?