Feminist foreign policy

Feminist foreign policy, or feminist diplomacy, is a strategy integrated into the policies and practices of a state to promote gender equality, and to help improve women's access to resources, basic human rights, and political participation. It can often be bucketed into three categories: rights, resources, and representation. The concept was first coined and integrated into governmental policy by Margot Wallström, former Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister.^[1][2]

The objectives of feminist foreign policy include (but are not limited to):

• The fight against sexual and sexist violence;^[3]
• The education of women and girls, and that of men and boys;^[3]
• The economic emancipation of women across the world;^[3][4]
• Involving women in politics and decision-making;^[1]
• Involving women in peace negotiations and treaties^[1]

One action taken by Margaret Wallstrom was to create a global network of women peace negotiators, as women are often not invited to the negotiating table, despite their informal mediation roles in many communities.

Including women in peace negotiations makes peace agreements more likely to last. Involving women in peace negotiations has been proven to have significant positive effects such as a lower likelihood of the country breaking out into conflict again, and greater buy-in from the population as a whole. In fact, a statistical analysis of 182 signed peace agreements between 1989 and 2011 revealed peace agreements where women are involved are “35% more likely to last for fifteen years”.^[5][6]