Baerbock presents feminist guidelines

“We’re not calling for a revolution today, we’re doing something that goes without saying — making sure our policies reach everyone,” Baerbock said Wednesday after a federal cabinet meeting in Berlin. The feminist orientation will “run through all areas of foreign policy,” Baerbock said, citing peacekeeping missions, crisis diplomacy, humanitarian aid and foreign cultural policy as examples.

It’s essentially about the three “Rs,” Baerbock said — on women’s rights, on women’s resources and women’s advancement, and on women’s representation. The Baerbock Department has detailed the concept in 88 pages. It formulates ten guidelines that affect both the external functioning and the internal structure of the Ministry.

The guidelines apply to the work of the State Department, but not to that of the federal government as a whole. Federal Minister of Development Cooperation Svenja Schulze (SPD) presented guidelines for a feminist development policy together with Baerbock on Wednesday.

Baerbock tempered expectations about the effectiveness of the new guidelines. “Feminism is not a magic wand, we are not naive,” she said. “We won’t be able to fix all the issues, but we’ll take a closer look.” She is concerned with a “real feminism.”

The guidelines may have concrete consequences for the use of the Ministry’s financial resources. In 2025, 85 percent of the project funds must be spent in a ‘gender-sensitive’ way. Another eight percent should be “gender transformative.” This means that the funds must actively contribute to equality.

Other guidelines of the draft relate to the integration of the perspectives of women and marginalized groups in the global work of the Office for Peace and Security, the commitment to greater participation of women and marginalized groups in peace processes, and the fight against sexualized and gendered – specific violence in armed conflicts.

There should be more women in leadership positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. According to Baerbock, only 26 percent of ambassadorial positions are currently held by women. “There is still room for improvement,” Baerbock said. Equal opportunities, a non-discriminatory working environment, flexible working and the promotion of diversity must be promoted in particular at the Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In the Baerbock Department’s concept, feminist foreign policy is defined as follows: “Feminist foreign policy means that we not only see certain vulnerabilities, but also address them in a targeted manner, including in our project funding or humanitarian aid.”

“Women’s rights are an indicator of the state of our societies,” the draft continues. “Where everyone has the same opportunities and rights to participate in social life, everyone benefits. Societies in which equality is achieved or at least pursued are more peaceful, fair, sustainable and economically successful than societies that exclude women and others from participation.”

(AFP)

Source: Blick