On 22 and 23 October, France hosted the4thInterministerial Conference on Feminist Diplomacy. This latest edition is a major international event reaffirming the need to defend and promote women’s and girls’ rights and gender equality in the face of persistent inequalities and the rise of anti-rights movements. We were present alongside other civil society partners, and here is what we took away from the event.
Resist, unite, act: the response to anti-rights movements
Governments, international organisations, philanthropic actors and feminist movements have mobilised to “resist, unite and act” in favour of equality. At the instigation of the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs, 31 countries adopted a joint declaration reaffirming key commitments: promoting the human rights of women and girls, combating gender-based violence, including men as allies, supporting feminist organisations, defending sexual and reproductive rights, recognising the diversity of families, and ensuring the full participation of women and young people in public life.
This new alliance, which brings together countries from the North and South, is important in the current context. Anti-rights and anti-gender movements are seeking to undermine the gains made in terms of equality and sexual and reproductive health. Emerging from alliances between fundamentalist religious groups, conservative organisations and far-right parties, these actors are coordinating their actions at all levels to weaken international human rights frameworks. Their strategy is particularly evident in the Geneva Consensus Declaration, presented as a text on health and the family, but opposed to abortion rights and the rights of sexual minorities.
💡 Initiated by Germany in 2022 and then taken up by the Netherlands and Mexico, this conference provides a space for cooperation outside the United Nations, enabling countries with shared priorities to move forward together towards concrete commitments to equality.
What does adopting feminist diplomacy mean?
Feminist diplomacy is an approach to international relations that makes gender equality and women’s rights a central pillar of states’ external action. It aims to transform the way foreign policy (diplomacy, trade, security, development) is conceived in order to correct systemic inequalities and integrate a feminist perspective into all decisions.
Rooted in more than thirty years of international commitments, this approach is based on the Beijing Declaration and the Sustainable Development Goals, which make gender equality a cross-cutting priority on the global agenda. While the main principles of feminist diplomacy are shared, each country offers its own interpretation, depending on its history and priorities.
In France, the International Strategy for Feminist Diplomacy 2025-2030 consolidates commitments to equality, the fight against violence and the fight for sexual and reproductive rights and health, while integrating new issues such as digital technology, climate change and international crises.
📚 Read on our website: Will France’s new feminist diplomacy strategy have the means to achieve its ambitions?
Towards a coherent, decolonial and solidarity-based feminist diplomacy
While feminist diplomacy has established itself as a political innovation, many feminist voices still denounce its lack of coherence and its overly “Northern” roots, which are sometimes disconnected from local realities and struggles in the South. Civil society is calling for a rethink of this approach so that it can become truly transformative:
- Intersectional, considering all forms of oppression (gender, race, class, age, disability)
- Decolonial, recognising the historical power relations between North and South
- Solidarity-based, making cooperation and accountability the driving forces behind external action.
Civil society is calling for diplomacy that listens to, funds and values grassroots initiatives, rather than confining them to an advisory role. A credible feminist foreign policy must be accompanied by dedicated, transparent and sustainable budgets, and public monitoring of commitments. Feminist organisations stress that this approach must not be limited to rhetoric: it must question the internal practices of institutions, rethink the way decisions are made and make feminist diplomacy a tool for justice, consistency and democratic resistance in a world beset by crises and setbacks in terms of rights.
➡️ To learn more, we recommend this analysis by Focus 2030 on the challenges surrounding feminist diplomacy. Enjoy!