Feminist approach to foreign policy - stakeholder engagement workshops: evidence report

4. Stakeholder Responses: Defining Scotland’s feminist approach to foreign policy

Through the workshops, participants identified important elements in how the Scottish Government defines its feminist approach to foreign policy.

1) Set out a transformative vision of the goals of FFP. Scotland should articulate its feminist approach to foreign policy around a human-rights-based understanding of what makes Scotland and the world fairer, greener and more secure. It should emphasise tackling the drivers and root causes of women’s and girls’ insecurity, including patriarchy, militarism and extractive capitalism. It should dare to be bold and challenging, and be prepared to push against any backlash.

2) Have an intersectional lens on vulnerability and marginalisation. Scotland should ensure its feminist approach to foreign policy goes beyond a focus only on women as a group. It should recognise that individuals’ lived experiences are shaped by interlocking systems of subordination and privilege based on gender, class and race/ethnicity, among other factors. Working with an “intersectionality” lens means challenging those systems and how they affect different women and girls differently, as well as other marginalised groups.

3) Be actively anticolonial and antiracist. Scotland should connect its feminist approach to foreign policy with its commitment to be antiracist and address colonialism, slavery and historic injustice. This means seeking to invert the systemic power dynamics in international relations, development programming and trade; and striving always to give people most affected by structural inequalities and injustice, conflict, climate change and environmental damage a platform to speak for themselves and influence decisions, rather than speak for them.

4) Adopt a participatory approach at home and overseas. The Scottish Government should be in continuous dialogue with diverse civil society in Scotland and abroad. Scotland’s diverse communities should be engaged more actively in discussion on international issues to make better use of the knowledge and expertise available in Scotland. Women’s organisations, networks of feminist peacebuilders and activists, and experts and networks in the Global South should be involved in regular consultations and feedback, and mechanisms should be in place to ensure policies can be adapted and changed to reflect their views.

5) Commit to clarity, transparency and accountability. The Scottish Government should make specific commitments under its feminist approach to foreign policy. Mechanisms should be put in place to ensure transparency and accountability around steps taken and progress achieved. As well as being accountable to the people of Scotland, FFP should seek to be accountable to the local communities in the Global South whose lives the policy seeks to enhance.