Walking the talk

Feminist Foreign Policy has gained significant ground in policy discourse over the past years, with many countries in Europe and worldwide proclaiming a feminist approach to their external actions. Offering a strong intersectional lens to rethink existing power structures both in global politics and societies, it enables deep processes of self-reflection and rethinking external policies. 

What can be learned from the existing concepts and best practices, and how can they be applied to EU external action? This conference aimed to provide some perspectives on selected fields of EU external action.  

This conference, co-organised with the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung office in Brussels, launched the Feminist Foreign Policy Progressive Voices Collective to develop policy recommendations for a European Feminist Foreign Policy.

Overview of the programme: 

• Impulse session: Why do we still need a feminist foreign policy? (Re)defining its meaning
• Panel I: FFP in times of crises: making it a must-have rather than a cosmetic afterthought
• Panel II: Applying a feminist lens to the (post-war) recovery and transformation of Ukraine
• Panel III: Untangling the hidden gender bias in external trade policy
• Panel IV: FFP as a vector for sustainable development goals and human rights

We explored the necessity of FFP, its challenges and strengths, and the gender bias within connected issues such as trade policy, with renowned experts such as Svenja Schulze, Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany; Ann Linde, Former Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs; Benedicta Lasi, Secretary General at Socialist International;  Heléne Fritzon, MEP and Vice President of the S&D Group; Inma Rodríguez-Piñero, MEP S&D Group; Catherine West, MP and Shadow Foreign Minister for Asia and the Pacific, UK; Arancha González Layla, Former Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs; and many others. 

For more information about this public event and the collective, please contact Euléane Omez, Project Management Coordination – euleane.omez@feps-europe.eu  

This event was featured in the EP Gender Equality Week agenda.

On the same topic, read the Progressive Post dossier What does feminist foreign policy mean for progressives?, with articles by Ann Linde, Serena Giusti and Benedicta Lasi.

Continue the conversation on Tuesday 24 October with a book reading by Kristina Lunz, register here.

Coordinated by

Strategic partners