Page 11 - A Gender-Sensitive Indian Foreign Policy- Why? and How?

Indian Council
of World Affairs

‘shadow pandemic’ affecting millions of women world-wide. As Isabel
Allende said recently, why are aggression and violence against women not
regarded as an infringement of a woman’s human rights?

The U.S. state of Hawaii recently launched a feminist recovery plan for the
pandemic, which centres women at the heart of the policy response. It is
called “building bridges, not walking on backs”. We have to address issues
like water, sanitation, hygiene, housing, gender digital divide, environmental
concerns, inequalities in employment, wages, and the quality of life. When
diplomacy focuses on development, these are issues that should occupy
our policy makers, because they benefit women, and society as a whole. So,
an intersectional analysis is required in our approach to overcoming the
effects of the pandemic. At every cross-section there stands a woman in need
for equal access to opportunities. Vice-President Kamala Harris of the U.S.
spoke recently of the mass exodus of women from the workforce during the
pandemic as a national emergency. “The pandemic has created a perfect
storm for women workers”, she said. Have we assessed the impact of the
pandemic on women in the country and in our region?

Where women lead, the responses to the pandemic have been most
heartening and impressive. The examples of Jacinda Ardern of New Zealand
and Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan can be cited in this regard. It is said that there
are many examples of men ceding ground to women to be appointed to lead
in times of crisis – letting the women deal with the mess, as it were – look at
the case of Theresa May in the U.K. during Brexit. They call this the Glass Cliff
– women being appointed to positions of responsibility when the chances
of failure are the highest. Contrary to expectations, many women in such
situations have shown that the glass cliff is no barrier and it can be a weapon
to overcome the sister concept of the glass ceiling, too!

Involving and engaging women in peace processes should be another
concern. How are we to craft peace if half the population is excluded? Our
research base for preventing conflict and building peace, as an input for
policy makers, should look at gender equality in this crucial sphere and the
role of women. Perhaps this will also help us to challenge the assumption of
hard power as the only way to solve conflict, that we can also use the tools of
diplomacy, trade, inclusion as a means to bring peace, and never lose sight of
the fact that when we think of security we should think of human security,
also. We must be alert to the fact that every policy we make affects men
and women differentially. We must train our minds to look at the gender
impact of every policy decision we take. The same requires that we ensure
diversity in the policy and decision-making apparatus, and that we increase
consultations with women when making policy and so that everyone who is
impacted by a decision is able to make their voice heard. 11

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