Page 37 - A Gender-Sensitive Indian Foreign Policy- Why? and How?

Indian Council
of World Affairs

Women, have been in fact, kept out of the international politics
on the basis that a typical “female approach” would be more
inclined to matters related to “soft-security,” such as human
security, women empowerment, migration and trafficking,
etc., thus detracting from a focus on more important hard
security issues.

However, to ensure that India’s strong rhetorical commitments regarding
gender equality and women’s participation in peace and security matters,
do translate into practice, I believe that, India should consider adopting a
Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) framework; thus, making much more concrete
efforts to mainstream gender at the policy level.

The FFP approach focuses on protecting the needs of marginalized and
female groups by critically reflecting international power structures and
putting human security at the heart of discussions. Therefore, apart from
drawing a co-relation between India’s words and actions, a FFP could also
offer India with an opportunity to create a conducive environment for peace;
eliminate domestic barriers against women, and assist in building stronger
bilateral relationships; these are the main points, which I will be dwelling
upon during my presentation.

Before proceeding any further, it is important to understand India’s foreign
policy play in brief in order to asses why India should take up FFP approach.

So the thing is, as for any nation, India’s principal priority in its foreign policy
play has been ensuring the maintenance as well as protection of its national
security interests. But, in framing this goal, India has adopted a rather
traditional and narrow view of security, focused on the application of force,
by hinging on military security.
This can in part be attributed to the fact that for centuries, men have
monopolized the conduct of diplomacy and foreign relations within India.
As such, India’s traditional, male-defined notion of security
has remained gender blind, ignoring the particular needs of
women, and thus, revolving around hard security issues,
overlooking matters that are pertinent to soft-
power diplomacy.

Women, have been in fact, kept out of the international
politics on the basis that a typical “female
approach” would be more inclined to matters
related to “soft-security,” such as human security,
women empowerment, migration and trafficking, etc., thus 37
detracting from a focus on more important hard security

A GENDER-SENSITIVE INDIAN FOREIGN POLICY Why? and How?