Feminist approach to foreign policy - interview findings: final report

Executive Summary

In the 2021-22 Programme for Government, the Scottish Government reiterated our commitment to ensuring that our policies and actions abroad are consistent with our focus on fairness and inclusion at home, ensuring that our international work reflects a feminist approach to policymaking. We have since been working on what such an approach could look like for Scotland.

As part of developing a feminist approach to foreign policy, the Scottish Government is committed to learning from and listening to others, and has therefore been engaging with stakeholders – and will continue this engagement going forward. This report summarises key findings from an initial phase of engagement which involved conducting interviews with individuals who have knowledge of and experience in the field of feminist foreign policy. Scottish Government analysts conducted a total of seven interviews between May and June 2022. Interviewees were identified as part of a literature review and were selected due to their knowledge of FFP. Participants include academics, researchers, and NGO workers.

The main issues discussed by participants during the interviews were as follows:

• Participants regarded safeguarding peace, justice, equality, wellbeing, and the environment as core priorities of a feminist approach to foreign policy. Marginalised groups were seen as the key focus of the policy.
• Intersectionality^[1] was seen as an important part of a feminist approach to foreign policy, although participants noted the difficulties in operationalising it due to its complexity. Taking an intersectional approach brings into view people who might have otherwise been missed.
• Participants emphasised policy coherence both externally and internally. This means ensuring that different policies across government portfolios are aligned, and that governments are observing the same standards in domestic policy as they espouse in their international work.
• Collaboration, participation and representation are important elements in policy development, and governments should seek to engage broadly and especially with those impacted by the policy. However, representation is not enough – the transformation of harmful and oppressive structures and institutions was flagged as a key focus of feminist work.
• Governments should undertake self-reflection regarding what a feminist approach to foreign policy means for the government's work internally, and governments should reflect on and acknowledge the power they possess (and consider how it can be shared).
• Participants noted various challenges regarding developing, adopting, and implementing a feminist approach to foreign policy, including negative public perceptions of feminism, insufficient resourcing, power imbalances in trans-national engagements, and experiencing pushback.
• Monitoring and evaluation is important for accountability and transparency, and demands the active participation of stakeholders. Coming up with measurable commitments, smart goals, timelines, and clear roles and responsibilities is crucial. Rather than adopting existing or popular measurements, it is important to consider these carefully in relation to your own priorities.