Marita Perceval
Historically, international relations have been one of the fields with the lowest female representation within the world of politics: except for a few notable exceptions, diplomacy has typically been a “man’s world” (Barrios Baron, 2020; Cengiz, 2023). A clear indicator in this direction is the fact that no woman has yet served as Secretary General in the United Nations.
At the same time, according to a report by GQUAL (2022), on the composition of 88 international tribunals and organisations, out of 578 positions, 234 are occupied by women, reaching only 40.48% of the total. The proportion remains practically the same at the regional level in Latin America and the Caribbean, representing 39% of female participation.
Although the gender gap is still visible in these statistics, the numbers show an important advance with respect to what has traditionally been female participation in the diplomatic world. As Cengiz (2023) points out, more and more women are gaining access to positions in embassies, courts and international organisations. In addition to the growing insertion of women in the field of diplomacy — even with the limitations that we have just described — an important advance is expressed in the multiplication of countries that have formally adopted or are in the process of implementing a Feminist Foreign Policy. A pioneer country in this area was Sweden in 2014, followed by Canada in 2017, France in 2019, Mexico in 2020 (IWDA, 2020), Spain and Luxembourg in 2021, Germany, the Netherlands, Liberia, Libya, and Chile in 2023.
In Argentina, the Government of President Alberto Fernandez decided to prioritise gender equality through the creation of the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity and the National Cabinet for the mainstreaming of gender policies, as soon as the government took office in 2019. Its creation shows a deep commitment to the construction of a more egalitarian society that promotes equality.
Argentine feminist foreign policy is the corollary of these advances. Argentine feminist foreign policy representation has generated a coherent institutional framework in which national policies aimed at recognising, protecting, and guaranteeing gender equality are reflected in the initiatives, actions, and definitions of national foreign policy, since January 2023.
On the other hand, it guarantees that all the necessary measures are adopted at the national level to ensure that the commitments assumed internationally in the area of women and girls’ rights become an effective reality. As a plus, Argentine feminist foreign policy adopts a cross-cutting, intersectional, intercultural, intergenerational, multidimensional, and multiscale approach.
The aim is not only to ensure that more women gain access to leadership positions in their professional careers and reduce the gender gap in the field of international relations - to break “glass ceilings” - but to go beyond this, and build a radically feminist foreign policy, to make visible and transform the multiple injustices produced by patriarchy, racism, colonialism, and capitalism.
To this end, in this first stage of the Feminist Foreign Policy in Argentina, the work has been articulated around six fundamental lines of action: 1. Care society as a horizon. Buenos Aires Commitment. Recognition of care as a universal need, decent work and substantive right; 2. Sustainable development, environment, and climate change. Escazú Agreement. Action plan to protect and promote the empowerment of women environmental defenders and human rights activists; 3. Economic autonomy. Eradication of structural gender inequalities. Gender impact of debt in developing and middle income countries; 4. Scientific knowledge and technological innovation, particularly AI developments, through gender lenses; 5. Eradication of violence and impunity. Civil disarmament and ATT from a feminist approach. Women, Peace, and Security. 6. Democracy, Multilateralism, Human Rights, and Peace. Strengthening feminist foreign policy, and promoting more feminists in foreign policy.
The writer is special representative for feminist foreign policy, Argentine Republic.
The writer is special representative for feminist foreign policy, Argentine Republic.
