Page 24 - A Gender-Sensitive Indian Foreign Policy- Why? and How?

Indian Council
of World Affairs

Our foreign policy reflects a gendered language. There is
acceptance of the idea that national interests are best served by
cumulative interests and well-being of the community of nations
which is like a global family (Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam).

like Germany, Japan, South Africa, Brazil and our neighbourhood diplomacy
is based on a policy of non-alignment. The ‘vaccine diplomacy’ is also
an example of our gendered approach to foreign policy, reaching out to
the poorer and small nations of the world, Bhutan, Guyana, Jamaica. We
have witnessed a lot of performative politics at display, and photo-op
opportunities but I think India’s soft power is at display in its desire to play a
crucial role as a big power in global politics.

I want to move beyond ‘women’ in foreign policy (already addressed by
Swarna) to emphasise that our foreign policy reflects a gendered language.
There is acceptance of the idea that national interests are best served by
cumulative interests and well-being of the community of nations which is
like a global family (Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam). Somewhere we have survived,
because of our belief that very narrow, self-serving, self-aggrandizing goals
are not very beneficial, they only lead to outright war. And we have also
adopted a very nuanced understanding of power where we have not only
tried to stay away from the bipolar context, but we have tied to build bridges
with our difficult neighbours. We may have created perceptions about our
own hegemonic status in that process, and that is something that we can
watch out for.

Finally, I would like to emphasise the issue of representation and gender
equality in foreign policy circles: we need to interrogate
whether our cabinet committee on security, foreign
services etc reflect our core values
of including more women. Much
remains to be done and we have to
prioritize. As feminists we are also
careful to not argue that putting
women in places of power means a
more peaceful world will emerge
- that is something that has been
critiqued and none of us would say
that. Nevertheless, that is also not
an argument to exclude women in
decision making, and perhaps it is never
enough to emphasize that women have
24 and bring these unique experiences to

Indian Council of World Affairs An ICWA Conversation