Feminist Foreign Policy

In October 2014, Sweden became the first country in the world to launch a feminist foreign policy. This means applying a systematic gender equality perspective throughout the whole foreign policy agenda.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Margot Wallström has launched a handbook on feminist foreign policy. Following extensive international gender equality work over almost four years, there are a number of lessons that the Government wishes to share – methods, experiences and examples of how the policy is conducted. The hope is that the handbook will be a valuable resource for all contributors to international gender equality work.

International interest in Sweden's feminist foreign policy is great, which has been noted by both the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and missions abroad. The Stockholm Forum on Gender Equality, held in Stockholm this spring, resulted in even more people becoming curious and committed, which is not least illustrated by the fact that the forum is to be followed up in Tunis in spring 2019. Many conversations return to the question of how we have worked. The handbook answers many of the 'how to' questions and is structured to be relevant whether you are working multilaterally, bilaterally or on changing social norms in general.

This handbook should be a resource for international work relating to gender equality and all women's and girls' full enjoyment of human rights. It contains a selection of methods and experiences that can provide examples and inspira¬tion for further work of the Swedish Foreign Service, other parts of the civil service and society as a whole. The handbook also describes the first four years of working with a feminist foreign policy. Thereby, it responds to the considerable national and international interest in this policy.