Welcome to the May 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. We thank founding AFFPC member and IWDA Research Advisor Dr Liz Gill-Atkinson, who finished up with IWDA this month, for her immense contribution to global knowledge on feminist foreign policy.
Please direct all enquiries, suggestions and feedback to research@iwda.org.au. |
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Following the release of Australia’s International Gender Equality Strategy in February, the Federal Budget in late March represented a key opportunity for Australia to match ambition with resources and respond to the increasing backlash and attacks on women’s and LGBTQIA+ people’s rights.
Instead, the budget foreshadows that Australia's Official Development Assistance (ODA) will receive a small, nominal increase of 2.7% to total AUD$5.1 billion in FY2025-26. However, this increase is below the rate of inflation, meaning it is a cut in real terms. ODA will also drop to just 0.18% of Gross National Income (GNI), Australia’s lowest aid commitment ever as a share of GNI.
At a time when anti-gender, authoritarianism and far-right misogynist politics are taking hold and working hard to unwind hard fought progress for gender equality, this budget fails to meet the moment.
Within Australia’s shrinking aid budget, only a small proportion will be going to fund women’s rights organisations. While there have been significant increases in the past few years in programs with gender equality as a significant objective (now a requirement for all programs over $3m, driving an increased prioritisation within DFAT), funding for work principally focused on achieving gender equality has not seen a similar increase.
This budget comes in a chaotic global context for international development, with an acceleration of ODA cuts from major donors, most notably the United States, but also including the Netherlands, the UK and France. Far-right political parties holding power in previously progressive donor governments (including Sweden, the Netherlands, Germany and Sweden) have enacted significant cuts to ODA and have abandoned or watered-down feminist foreign policy commitments. And the Trump Administration’s efforts to dismantle international development and reshape multilateral systems along ideological lines have caused further mayhem and fear.
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Brave Space: How Principles from Feminism Can Be Applied to Transform Your Work Life and Practice |
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Are you looking for a space where you can explore feminist principles in a way that feels welcoming, inclusive, and transformative—no matter where you are on your journey?
Our Brave Space workshop is designed to foster exactly that: a supportive environment where you can connect, learn, and grow. In this interactive two-day workshop, we will introduce you to principles from feminism that can reshape how you work, lead and live.
Join our next online workshop, 30 June & 1 July. |
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The Power of Regional Movements and Strategies: Advancing the Beijing Platform for Action through Feminist Foreign Policy. |
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IWDA/AFFPC co-sponsored this event at the Commission on the Status of Women, along with collaborators CREA, the Global Partner Network for FFP and the Generation Equality Action Coalition on Feminist Movements and Leadership. This interactive event brought together government and civil society leaders from various regions, with a particular focus on the Majority World, to reflect on their feminist foreign policy practices, share lessons learned, exchange ideas and recommendations, raise critical questions and build transnational solidarity.
Panellists included Counsellor Deweh E. Gray (Government of Liberia), Marie Soulié (Government of France), Sarah Hendriks (UN Women), María Paulina Rivera Chávez (the Mexican Feminist Foreign Policy Network), Chandy Eng (Gender and Development for Cambodia), Lina Abou-Habib (Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship), and Joanna Pradela (IWDA).
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New Analysis and Conference on Fighting Impunity for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence.
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New FFP strategy for France
On 7th March 2025, France launched its International Strategy for a Feminist Foreign Policy (2025-2030). France's new strategy builds on the International Strategy for Gender Equality (2018-2022) and its feminist diplomacy approach, and aims to spearhead implementation of the policy in a coordinated and participatory way. Following a broad participatory process that brought together Foreign Ministry directorates, agencies, sector-based ministries, bilateral and multilateral partners, international organisations, French and international civil society, the private sector, research institutions and philanthropic foundations, France welcomed inputs from over 200 stakeholders via 8 thematic working groups in internal and external consultations in the policy development process.
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| Financing for Feminist Futures Conference Update
The Financing for Feminist Futures Conference is rescheduled to October 8-10, 2025. Given the current political context, organiser Walking the Talk Consortium has decided to reschedule, to allow for time to reframe the content and program to better address the current realities of communities and feminist organisations, influenced by recent geopolitical shifts, including the scaling back of USAID funding and operations, consistent cuts to aid spending in Europe, and tightening restrictions on civil society, which have had a considerable impact on the feminist ecosystem.
More information about the decision, including about next steps in planning for the updated program, can be found here. |
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Feminist foreign policy in contested times: French, German, and Franco-German perspectives. |
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Australia is a 21st-century power. Why hide behind the sham comfort of ‘punching above our weight’? |
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Feminist foreign policy is at a crossroads. While progress toward gender equality faces setbacks, France and Germany are shaping their own Feminist Foreign Policy and Feminist Diplomacy approaches, balancing feminist / human rights ideals with political realities. This report, authored by Dr Johanna Mohring and Jessica Pennetier, explores the ambitions, challenges, and opportunities of French and German FFPs, highlighting their potential for deeper cooperation. How can these policies transform global politics in contested times?
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In his article for the Guardian, AFFPC Core Group member Allan Behm of The Australia Institute argues that whilst Australia enjoys considerable national power, the constant retreat into the comfort of ‘middle power’ and ‘punching above our weight’ represents a serious failure of confidence, imagination, and political leadership. While successive governments have talked about disruption and uncertainty, mostly in response to China’s economic growth, Australia’s response has been not to increase our diplomatic efforts. If Australia is serious about the need for a global rules-based order that is a genuinely inclusive approach to human wellbeing and global prosperity, we need to practise our advocacy everywhere, not just where we feel comfortable.
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2024 Independent Intelligence Review |
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Reflections on CSW69: The fight for gender equality can't abandon reproductive rights. |
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The 2024 Intelligence Review was released publicly this month, including recommendations from AFFPC Core Group members Dr Elise Stephenson and Dr Sue Harris Rimmer that the Office of National Intelligence publish aggregated NIC diversity statistics and gender pay gap data annually.
As Elise Stephenson writes, democratic institutions thrive on public trust, and research confirms that gender equality and diversity are foundational to fostering that trust. Furthermore, in an era of polarized discourse around diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), the NIC’s efforts to follow the long-held U.S. example of annually publishing demographic data carries important implications.
These recommendations are a powerful statement of Australia’s commitment to fostering inclusivity in its intelligence sector, ensuring it is both fit for purpose and representative of the society it serves. |
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In this blog for Devex, Memory Kachambwa and Karin Nilsson write about the rise of the anti-rights movement and the critical importance of maintaining commitments to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
While the CSW69 political declaration was agreed on by consensus - a win in and of itself - there was a notable absence of the mention of sexual and reproductive health and rights, or SRHR. Thirty years ago, reproductive rights were recognized as human rights and explicitly included in the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark agreement on the empowerment of women and girls, positioning SRHR as central to gender equality. The fact that these rights are now being disputed is both alarming and deeply concerning, particularly considering the critical challenges in access to health care, in particular for vulnerable groups in low- and middle-income countries.
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Gender Equality is at risk in Financing for Development Talks. |
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In this blog post for Devex, Beth Woroniuk (FFP Collaborative) argues that as United Nations member states negotiate the future of development financing, the stakes have never been higher for gender equality. Negotiations are unfolding against massive cuts to development assistance, fractures in multilateral discussions, and escalating attacks on the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people. Beth argues that without bold commitments, the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development this June risks failing to deliver the resources needed to advance women's rights, economic justice, and the Sustainable Development Goals. Beth outlines three paths forward for states supporting rights and equality and calls for investments, smart strategies, and alliances to set a financing for development framework that will support dignity, equality, and justice for all.
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IWDA (convenor of the AFFPC) is one of Australia’s leading organisations entirely focused on women’s rights and gender equality for all. This year, we celebrate our 40th anniversary. To learn more about our origin story, our three founders, how our work has evolved over the last four decades and what will be coming next, read our blog post below. |
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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. If this newsletter was forwarded to you, sign up to the mailing list at the bottom of this page. |
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