Welcome to the February 2025 newsletter of the Australian Feminist Foreign Policy Coalition! |
Thank you for being involved in this growing community advancing feminist foreign policy in Australia.
In this bi-monthly newsletter, we share updates from the Australian Feminist Foreign Policy Coalition (AFFPC) and the global Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) space. Please direct all enquiries, suggestions and feedback to Liz Gill-Atkinson at research@iwda.org.au. |
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On 5th February 2025, the Australian Government launched a new International Gender Equality Strategy, outlining its commitment to gender equality and advancing the human rights of women and girls through Australia’s foreign policy.
AFFPC contributed to the strategy’s development via the public consultation process. Our submission was centred around a call for Australia to take an explicitly feminist approach and made a series of practical recommendations for how such an approach could be brought to life. Despite appearing to fail at the first hurdle—the strategy does not take an explicitly feminist approach nor even use the word feminist—there remains some promising signals. Of the 21 recommendations made by the AFFPC in our submission on how the strategy could take a feminist approach in practice, nearly half have been integrated at least in part.
The most glaring gap is the lack of an explicit acknowledgement that gender equality requires equality and rights for gender diverse, trans, non-binary and intersex people, with the strategy instead walking back from its 2016 recognition of the same and using the language “gender equality means equality for all people.” This is backed up by a default to binary language of “women and girls” or “men and boys” whenever specific gender identities are named, although there is a text box recognising LGBTQIA+ rights as an intersecting priority.
This is starkly juxtaposed with the strategy’s bold stance on SRHR, specifically naming comprehensive sexuality education and abortion as areas for continued advocacy and funding by Australia. The AFFPC submission named these same priorities as areas of SRHR that are facing particular backlash and requiring leadership from countries like Australia.
In light of the Trump administration’s recent decisions to reintroduce the global gag rule and freeze USAID funding, negatively impacting the health and human rights of diverse women and girls around the world, this explicit and intentional focus on SRHR in the Australian strategy is welcomed. Read the latest AFFPC Issues Paper for our full analysis. |
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February AFFPC Issue Paper: |
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Following our analysis of the extent to which the strategy has responded to the AFFPCs recommendations, this paper features a series of issue-based assessments authored by AFFPC Core Group members. Grant Wyeth writes about male backlash; Jacqui True on the implications for Australia’s Women, Peace and Security Agenda; Julie Ballangarry about Fist Nations Gender Justice, Heather Wrathall about the importance of using all tools of statecraft to implement the strategy;Y umi Lee on implications for women’s health across the lifespan; and Susan Harris Rimmer on Gender Equitable Climate Action.
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In their blog for the Lowy Institute, Jo Pradela and Alice Ridge of IWDA and the AFFPC write that the Government should be applauded for releasing the strategy at a time when there would have been as many, if not more, reasons to delay. However, now that it is released, the strategy raises hopes and expectations that Australia will stand firm on gender equality in the multilateral, regional and bilateral arenas and must be backed up by funding and action. Read the blog.
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Open petition, closing 5th March: Criminalising the Crime Against Humanity of Gender Apartheid
The term 'gender apartheid' is increasingly used to describe the institutionalised and systemic oppression of one gender group against other gender group/s, such as is currently the case in Iran and Afghanistan. At the international level, Australia has been supporting the draft codification of gender apartheid under the Draft Articles on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Humanity at the Sixth Committee of the Unted Nations (UN). But that treaty is not due to be finalised until 2029. Australia has a comprehensive legislative framework on crimes against humanity under Division 268 of the Commonwealth Criminal Code, which includes the crime of apartheid based on race. In line with Australia's international support for criminalisation of gender apartheid, there is an urgent need to amend the relevant division of the criminal code to include gender apartheid. We therefore ask the House to incorporate gender apartheid into the current crime against humanity of apartheid in the Commonwealth Criminal Code, updating section 268.22 'Crime Against Humanity of Apartheid' of the Criminal Code Act (1995).
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| Liberia reaffirms commitment to Feminist Foreign Policy principles
At a high-level side event on Feminist Foreign Policy during the African Union Summit, Liberia reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Foreign Minister Nyanti stated that “Liberia is committed to advancing Gender Equality in Foreign Policy, as true gender equality demands full, fair, and inclusive transformation,” and called for the full representation of women in all spaces, underscoring Liberia’s leadership in championing feminist principles on the global stage. One of three actionable recommendations from the side event was a commitment for all stakeholders to collaborate closely with the Government of Liberia in making Feminist Foreign Policy a reality.
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| Launch of global Women Foreign Minsters’ Group: Earlier this month, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly announced the launch of the Women Foreign Ministers’ Group, which will be an international platform for women foreign ministers to come together and collaborate on pressing international issues. |
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Save the date: Women Deliver, Melbourne 2026:
In January it was announced that the Women Deliver 2026 Conference will be hosted by the Oceanic Pacific region from April 27-30, 2026, in Melbourne, Australia. This marks a historic first for Women Deliver-a regionally-hosted conference that shifts power to feminists from the Oceanic Pacific Region, creating a transformative space to shape a progressive Post-2030 Agenda. |
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Conference: Financing for Feminist Futures Conference 2025 (21- 23 May 2025)
Registrations are now open for the Financing for Feminist Futures Conference which will take place in Madrid from May 21-23, 2025. This conference aims to integrate feminist practices into global funding strategies, influencing key events like the Fourth International Financing for Development Conference (FfD4), the G7, and G20 Summits. The event will bring together activists, researchers, government representatives, and private funders to shape feminist futures for global development. The conference will foster dialogue, launch a Common Ask Framework for gender equality, and amplify feminist movements to ensure financing for feminist causes takes centre stage in global policy.
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Feminist Foreign Policy for Ukraine – a case of hardship? |
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Project 2025: What It Means for Women, Families, and Gender Justice. |
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In this blog for the global public policy institute, Niklas Bablon argues that the feminist debate on Russia’s war against Ukraine also illustrates how critical local voices and perspectives are for analytical clarity in controversial debates – with a clear example being the tension between militarization and feminism. Most Ukrainian feminists are clear on the fact that the militarization of their country has negative gender-specific consequences, but at the same time there is no alternative. Not defending their country is not an option. This pragmatism shows that it is indeed possible to wage an emancipatory defensive war while at the same time actively combatting the negative social effects of domestic militarization. Nicolas argues that we should demonstrate the same pragmatism in our support for Ukraine.
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Project 2025 is a 900+ page handbook, assembled by the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank, with at least 140 former trump administration officials involved in its drafting. It offers a step by-step guide for how to quickly implement an extreme agenda across the federal government from
day one of a conservative presidential administration. Analysis by the National Women’s Law Centre in the US concludes that if realised, Project 2025 would have devastating consequences for democracy, and for the lives of women, girls, LGBTQI+ people, and entire communities. |
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After 10 years with USAID, I know women and children are already suffering following the shutdown. |
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How Women’s movements lead demands for democracy in the face of backlash and politicised religion. |
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Abby Bloom worked on women’s and children’s health programs for almost a decade with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). In this article, she writes about how the shutdown of the USAID by the Trump administration has started to have a devastating effect on women worldwide. As the primary U.S. agency for foreign aid, USAID has been instrumental for nearly 50 years in advancing women’s health, economic empowerment, and rights. The abrupt cessation of the services and programs formerly funded by USAID is expected to lead to increased maternal mortality, unintended pregnancies, and the spread of sexually transmitted infections.
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Women’s movements are often dismissed as marginal players to the survival of democratic systems, but feminist mobilisations have been at the forefront of democratic struggles for decades. New ODI research underscores how women’s movements are leading the push for democratic governance and inclusion, particularly in contexts of eroding civic space or where democracies are increasingly authoritarian. Yet, they face growing backlash from a rising tide of politicised religion.
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Joint statement on gender inequality and AI: |
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The Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse (which is made up of representatives of 12 countries, including Australia) has called for gender to be an integral part of the AI Action Summit. With the rapid digital transformation of our societies, AI offers a new set of opportunities to advance the human rights of women, young women and girls in all their diversity and LGBTQI+ persons and promote gender equality. However, it also introduces a distinct set of challenges and risks, mirroring and amplifying existing gender biases and inequalities. The Partnership emphasised the need for human rights and gender equality issues to be addressed in the era of artificial intelligence.
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The Australian Feminist Foreign Policy Coalition acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land on which we work and live. We pay our respects to their Elders, past and present, and the Aboriginal Elders of other communities.
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