Spending “gender-sensitive” – Baerbock presents guidelines for feminist foreign policy

Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) wants to establish feminist foreign policy as a working principle in the Federal Foreign Office with her own ambassador and an 80-page catalog of guidelines. “We are pursuing a feminist foreign policy because it is sorely needed. Because men and women are still not equal worldwide," writes the minister in the foreword to the final version of the guidelines, which were presented to the dpa news agency in Berlin on Monday. First, the news portal "The Pioneer" reported on the final version.

Baerbock wants to present the concept together with Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) this Wednesday after the cabinet meeting.

"Women's rights are an indicator of the state of our societies," writes Baerbock. A feminist foreign policy aims to achieve equality for women and girls worldwide. The concept is "not a foreign policy for women, but for all members of a society". The guidelines would “run through our actions as a team at the Federal Foreign Office in terms of mainstreaming, in our national foreign policy, in the European Union and in international forums”. The guidelines should "shape our inner working methods and help us to develop a 'feminist reflex'".

In order to implement feminist foreign policy, Baerbock wants to develop new working methods and structures in the Federal Foreign Office, in which "mainstreaming" should "play a key role". To this end, the minister wants to create the post of “Ambassador of the Federal Foreign Office for Feminist Foreign Policy”. "We will work hard to give our foreign service a more feminine face and to increase the proportion of women in management positions," announces Baerbock.

According to Baerbock, the goal is to spend 85 percent of the project funds “gender-sensitively” by the end of the legislative period, so that women’s concerns are included. Eight percent of the funds should be paid in a "gender-transformative" way, so that the projects are actively redesigned in this direction. The six guidelines for future foreign policy action state, among other things, that “we integrate the perspectives of women and marginalized groups in our global work for peace and security”.

The news portal "The Pioneer" quotes from the guideline, which deals with climate and energy foreign policy. There it says: “Women and various social groups are important actors and leaders in our climate and energy diplomacy. We help offset the specific impact of the climate crisis on women and marginalized groups.”

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