Rethinking the Participation of Women’s Movements in the Decision-making Processes: A Critical Analysis of Mexico and Chile’s Feminist Foreign Policy

Date

2024-07-25

Author

Akgemci, Esra

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This paper examines feminist foreign policy, which aims to integrate the aim of gender equality across foreign policy. First adopted by Sweden in 2014 and followed by countries such as Canada (2017), France (2019), Mexico (2020), Spain (2021), Luxembourg (2021), Germany (2021) and Chile (2022), feminist foreign policy relies on gender-focused foreign policies and programs designed and implemented by governments that commit to women’s rights and gender equality. However, since states hold more extensive ownership over the form of feminist foreign policies and women’s movements are not primarily included in the decision-making processes, the extent to which feminist foreign policy is imagined and applied has usually been very controversial. In the Global South countries, where the status of women and gender equality is painfully poor, the contradictions and tensions that emerge during the implementation of feminist foreign policy are more apparent. This paper will attempt to analyze the contradictions of this process through a comparative critical analysis of both Mexico and Chile’s contemporary feminist foreign policy agendas. Feminist foreign policy builds on strong women’s movements and the strategies feminists advocate in both countries. Nevertheless, since both progressive governments have failed to improve their relationship with social movements, feminist foreign policy does little to advance women's rights, representation, and resources (3Rs) in these countries. The paper argues that without the meaningful participation of women’s movements, feminist foreign policy would only be a discursive tool to legitimize state policies.

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https://hdl.handle.net/11511/110750

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Graduate School of Social Sciences, Conference / Seminar