Germany now relies on feminist foreign policy.
Ironically, pioneer Sweden has mothballed the label again.
The benefit is disputed.
Berlin/Munich - Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) want to rely on "feminist concepts" in their departments in the future.
“We want to make societies fairer.
And you can't do without half of the potential, namely women, you have to think about them," said Schulze at the presentation of the plans on Wednesday (March 1).
However, details had already leaked out from Baerbock's 80-page guidelines.
There was criticism from the opposition and even from the coalition partner FDP.
And a look abroad also raises a few questions: Sweden, probably the birthplace of official “feminist” foreign policy concepts, rejected the label again in the fall after a change of government.
A diplomat who, according to her self-portrayal, was "feminist" minded, castigated it as a kind of distraction from the essentials - and observers see hardly any changes even after the change in the name.
"Feminist foreign policy": Sweden cashed Baerbock's label in again - diplomat settled accounts
Baerbock's Swedish counterpart Tobias Billström from the conservative moderates announced his departure from feminist foreign policy in mid-October - just a few hours after the new cabinet was presented.
But he tried to appease critics: "Gender equality is a fundamental value in Sweden and also a fundamental value for this government," he emphasized in the program "Aktuellt" of the broadcaster SVT.
Billström's prime minister and fellow party member Ulf Kristersson also took office with votes from the hard-right Sweden Democrats.
The move followed what was at times a tough debate: some commentators had drawn a devastating conclusion about Sweden's actions under the label of "feminist foreign policy".
Diana Janse, a former Swedish ambassador to Lebanon, settled accounts publicly.
After the “feminist foreign policy” was proclaimed in 2014, Janse asked in Stockholm what exactly the concept meant, wrote Janse in the tabloid
Expressen
.
She initially did not receive an answer, explained the ex-diplomat, who describes herself as a feminist.
Countries with officially “feminist foreign policy”
Canada (since 2017)
France (since 2019)
Mexico (since 2020)
Spain (since 2021)
Luxembourg (since 2021)
Germany (since 2021)
Chile (2022)
The Netherlands and Belgium are pursuing corresponding plans.
Source:
UN Women (09/22), Sweden editorially removed from listing
Later, the State Department pointed out that kidnapping cases or gender-balanced posts were given higher priority.
Above all, the guidelines would have distracted Kraft from important tasks - and ultimately weakened Sweden's international position.
Billström's Social Democratic predecessor Ann Linde, on the other hand, raised allegations against the new government of the "right-wing bloc" even before the plans were announced.
The alliance of conservatives, Christian democrats and liberals tolerated by the right-wing populist Sweden Democrats is ready "to throw away all the work for women and girls," Linde also wrote in
Expressen
.
Millions of women would have benefited from Sweden's offers in matters such as safe abortions, prevention and sex education.
At the same time, there is still a lot to be done in terms of equality worldwide.
"Feminist foreign policy": Swedish broadcaster finds no difference - Kubicki teases
The term “feminist foreign policy” was coined in 2014 by Margot Wallström, then head of the Swedish foreign ministry.
Her policy saw itself as "an answer to the systematic discrimination and subordination that characterizes the everyday life of countless girls and women around the world".
In October, Wallstrom defended several elements that she considered important - such as the targeted consideration of the experiences of women in war and crisis zones.
Several countries had copied the concept, and the Greens in Germany also refer to it.
However, how much Swedish foreign policy has changed since abandoning the label “feminist” remains a matter of interpretation.
After a major foreign policy debate in the Riksdag, SVT recently analyzed that large parts of the associated policy are still in force - even if the government is now talking about "strategic equality work".
FDP Vice Wolfgang Kubicki now seemed to take a similar horn - and dismiss the idea as a kind of PR stunt: "I don't think much of the concept of feminist foreign policy because it aims less at achieving diplomatic improvements than at emotional satisfaction domestic political actors,” he told
Table.Media
.
In any case, the line of German foreign policy is drawn by the Chancellery.
Baerbock's feminist foreign policy: CDU sees "bold phrases", Left doubts implementation
The opposition also criticized Wednesday before the concepts were presented - from both the left and the right.
Linke leader Janine Wissler questioned the traffic light coalition's claim to "feminist foreign policy".
Arms exports to Saudi Arabia or liquid gas deals with Qatar are "not an expression of feminist or value-based foreign policy," she explained to the
Funke
newspapers.
Union foreign policy expert Jürgen Hardt (CDU) accused Baerbock of relying on bold phrases but failing in practice.
Specifically, he referred to the example of Iran.
"It's easier to write concepts than to actually muster the courage or even just political capital to actively support women," he emphasized.
Unfortunately, the German reaction from the Chancellery and the Foreign Office to the women's protests in Iran was "too late and too lukewarm".
Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) was convinced of feminist content in foreign policy in an interview with the
Frankfurter Rundschau
on Wednesday .
"For conditions to change, women must become more visible, they must be involved and have a say," she said, also referring to the German government's Africa strategy.
The traffic light also wants to get countries like Russia's ally South Africa on board with the revision and new offers, as the Green MP Jamila Schäfer explained
to IPPEN.MEDIA
in February.
"It is also clear that feminism is not a magic wand," said Baerbock on Wednesday.
"We are not naive.
We will not be able to solve all of the world's problems with a feminist foreign policy." (
fn with material from dpa
)