Page 10 - A Gender-Sensitive Indian Foreign Policy- Why? and How?

Indian Council
of World Affairs

‘Feminism’ in foreign policy should... integrate feminine values
into policy making in matters of peace and development.

Feminism, it was said recently, requires us to take a holistic look at power,
who exercises power, who is prevented from accessing power, and why. This
may be much bigger than gender, it is a question of equality, looking at the
historically marginalized and struggling. We need a systemic lens through
which we can tackle such needs.

Diplomacy can be gender-neutral, but it should not be gender-blind- it has
to focus on the middle way, getting peace to override war, stressing skillful
negotiation, embracing diversity and, eschewing hierarchies and outdated
concepts of hegemony. When we say diplomacy should be gender-neutral
we mean that it should be about issues that concern human wellbeing,
with women as an indivisible component of this outlook. Women’s voices
should shape agendas and outcomes in diplomacy, and therefore women
must acquire agency and make themselves more effectively heard – on issues
particularly of rebuilding and reconstruction of societies torn apart by war
and conflict – as an Afghan woman said once, “We are not responsible for the
destruction, but we should be responsible for the reconstruction.” Therefore,
a feminist (or, a gender-sensitive) foreign policy is that which focuses on
political dialogue for conflict resolution, diplomacy and trade, safety and
wellbeing, stressing multilateralism, inclusion and intersectionality, being
embedded in civil society institutions and local communities. Women must
sit at the table, participating in decision making that involves the future of
our societies. We must prioritize diplomatic solutions over military ones. For
example, have we considered the impact of the use of nuclear weapons on
women and children? Does our disaster management outreach in diplomacy
and foreign policy have a crucial component concerning the impact on
women and children and the benefits to them? Is our policy on climate
change sensitive to this category of humans? Our foreign policy as it concerns
the developing world should focus on these concerns.

‘Feminism’ in foreign policy should make us more thoughtful about the ways
in which we approach such matters, it should integrate feminine values into
policy making in matters of peace and development. It should underscore
respect for international law. Have some of the P-5 countries considered the
impact of their sanctions on their adversaries on women and children – take
the instance of the Iran nuclear sanctions? Often, who is going to feel the
impact of these decisions is overlooked. Policy makers should listen to the
civil society dialogue on these issues.

10 Today, the effect of the year-long COVID-19 pandemic on women should be
of special concern, including the issue of domestic violence - the so-called

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