Indian foreign policy needs more women
Whenever India has undertaken big foreign policy engagements, very often, women experts and diplomats are conspicuous by their absence. Women account for only 16% of the Indian Foreign Service and only 18% of top leadership positions in embassies around the world.
In a recent seminar on gender mainstreaming in India’s foreign policy, Ranjana Kumari, director, Centre for Social Research, spoke of how Indian foreign policy should become more gender-inclusive and adopt a feminist foreign policy (FFP) framework. Sweden, Canada, The Netherlands, and Mexico are countries which have adopted this framework and, she feels that India could benefit from doing so too.
There is a misconception that women tend to veer away from what are described as hard issues of security and trade and focus on relatively soft issues. But today, nothing is considered a soft issue. Health, human rights, women and child trafficking, economic and political migration, and conflict are all issues that impact the security of nations. And it is in these that women’s voices must be heard much more.
Former foreign secretary, Sujatha Singh, feels that gender inclusion in foreign policy could lead to changes in priorities. “It is impossible to separate any one issue from the larger canvas of national security today,” says Singh.
An FFP framework would work to acknowledge women’s agency in matters of national and international import in dealing with other countries and organisations. The participation of women in foreign policy would strengthen democratic institutions and make them more inclusive, it would provide a fresh perspective on how we view the world, and how it views us.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar says that the representation of women in his ministry is being actively promote agree that we need to look at the w from the perspective of women, we ne gender-balanced foreign policy. We ne look at three things here: Getting m women to engage with foreign policy iss reflect women’s interests in foreign po and bring in a feminist perspective to eign policy.”
But he is not sure that the FPP as it e in other countries can be replicated in I easily. “These countries have different tures, different historical traditions. need such a framework to evolve org cally for it to work. But, yes, certainly need much more rebalancing in this a
It is not as though India has been av to the inclusion of women in what has termed hardcore security issues inte tionally; the problem is that it has b piecemeal. An all-woman police force f India was deployed under the aegis o United Nations (UN) in Liberia bac 2007. Such units have been sent to the D ocratic Republic of Congo in 2019 as we the Republic of South Sudan.
Indeed, the role of women in conflict olution and peace processes — vital co foreign policy — cannot be understated so far, this has not become an integral of the foreign policy and security narrat Nandita Baruah, country head of The Foundation, says “The FFP is aimed at ing voice to a gender perspective in for policy which, in turn, contributes to tainable development and human secu
Much more needs to be done to inc women at various policy levels in for relations. India is a member of the UN C mission on the Status of Women, a fo where India can influence gender pers tives globally. We need to lead by exam