In their basic work Gender in International Relations (1992)J. Ann Tickner, a feminist scholar of international relations theory, argued for a feminist security model as an alternative model of national security in place of existing models that she believed embodied “militarized masculinities.” The former offered an expandable, multi-layered and multi-dimensional security structure, while the latter was vital and existential.
More than two decades later, in the days following the market launch of the world’s first Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) of Sweden in 2014, the country Foreign Minister Margot Wallström argued‘[Feminism is] about opposing the systematic and global subordination of women and that “It’s time to be a little bolder in foreign policy.’ Placing the Swedish FFP within Tickner’s academic framework creates the world’s first fully-fledged feminist security model, which is often considered a subset of foreign policy in the 21st century.
As a crumbling international order fails girls and women from Ukraine to Sudan, it is time for the world – and India in particular – to take inspiration from this decades-old initiative and course-correct before it is too late. Retrospectively Global Gender Gap Reports According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), the world is hundreds of years behind in closing the global gender gap. Although there is no single FFP model or resulting definition that can address all potential users simultaneously, there is significant convergence in the recent scientific literature on the topic regarding a generally acceptable definition and scope of an FFP.
Scholars Lyric Thompson and Rachel Clement have said: “Feminist foreign policy is the policy of a state that defines its interactions with other states and movements in a way that prioritizes gender equality and enshrines the human rights of women and other traditionally marginalized groups, dedicates significant resources to realize this vision and seeks, through its implementation, to destroy patriarchal and male-dominated power structures in all its levers of influence (aid, trade, defense and diplomacy), supported by the voices of feminist actors.” Activists, groups and movements.’ Although there are other complementary definitions, the broad ingredients set out by Thompson and Clement remain static throughout.
The global rise of feminist foreign policy
The Swedish feminist foreign policy announcement was followed by the Canadian Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) in 2017. France’s own feminist foreign policy in 2019; Mexico in 2020; Spain, Germany and Luxembourg in 2021; Chiles in 2022; And Slovenia is in 2023.
A common thread that connects these country-specific models are the three in the main node mentioned original Swedish frame: Law, representation and resources. Recently, a fourth node, “reality,” has been proposed in some of these models. States that have declared a FFP are members of an international grouping called FFP Group Pluswhich regularly organizes ministerial conferences on feminist foreign policy.
Indian scholars and thinkers have long argued for a feminist reorientation of India’s foreign policy (IFP), and Foreign Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar did this recently vouched for a “gender-equitable foreign policy” that focuses on “getting more women involved in foreign policy issues, reflecting women’s interests in foreign policy, and bringing a feminist perspective to foreign policy.”
The proposal for an Indian Feminist Foreign Policy (IFFP) has, in my view, gained urgency in 2026 given three emerging factors. First, at a time when women in India have become an important cross-cutting political and welfare target group, an IFFP would leverage their importance and perspectives at a concrete policy level. Second, India’s stagnant global soft power could be rescued by using an IFFP as a tool of global engagement. And third, at a time of deep moral emptiness on the international stage, an IFFP would enable India to reclaim its fair voice in both the Global North and the Global South.
Institutional gaps in India’s foreign policy architecture
But in order to bring the vision of an IFFP to life, several institutional deficiencies must first be addressed. Women now wear makeup approximately 37-40 percent of new hires to the chronically understaffed Indian Foreign Service (IFS), but only hold 12 to 13 percent of leadership positions worldwide, and especially at the multilateral level. Even in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), only 29 percent of women are employed at the undersecretary level. Only female representatives are represented at parliamentary level 14 – 17 percent the total number of members in both houses. A breakdown of gender representation across all institutions of the Indian state would reveal this pathetic record: the almost complete absence of women’s perspectives.
Therefore, working on these numbers should be a priority to address the issue of representation. The lack of a national action plan to implement the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 of 2000 also reflects the general gender malaise in India that hinders any feminist agenda. Another example is the non-ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (OP-CEDAW), which allows survivors to approach the CEDAW Committee to seek redress when national legal frameworks have failed them. Therefore, fulfilling its international feminist commitments must accompany India’s march towards an FFP.
Important Recommendations for an Indian Feminist Foreign Policy (IFFP)
An IFFP must be reformative domestically and exportable internationally to suit Indian needs. Therefore it must:
- Address the representation gap in diplomatic institutions and cadres, including promotion quotas for women in the MEA and diplomatic posts and the inclusion of LGBTQ+ people and other gender minorities.
- This includes strengthening and repositioning domestic institutional mechanisms in all spheres of life towards a feminist orientation that includes long-term capacity building, gender sensitization and holistic inclusion with a whole-of-government (WoG) approach.
- This not only results in a symbolic representation of women, but also incorporates their perspectives, lived experiences and specific needs into policy making.
- Work more closely with NGOs, INGOs, civil society and multilateral bodies (such as FFP Group Plus) to learn best practices, identify their objectives and scope and adapt them to international standards.
- Focus primarily on gender mainstreaming, women-only peacekeeping forces that can be deployed to conflict zones for rehabilitation, confidence-building measures (CBMs), and peace durability (particularly in the Global South).
- Consider the specific needs and problems of the Global South so that it is exported on a large scale. This could include free technical assistance in implementing the PoSH mechanism, youth-focused gender sensitization campaigns, anti-SGBV training for communities, among others.
- Integrate a gender component into development aid disbursements, trade and climate agreements, and bilateral engagements.
- Improve cooperation in combating sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and technology-enabled gender-based violence (TFGBV) in bilateral and multilateral engagements.
- Proactively advocate for the rights of girls, women, LGBTQ+ communities and other gender minorities to increase visibility on the global stage.
The future of foreign policy is feminist
In conclusion, the time is ripe for India to develop and implement a feminist foreign policy – inspired by Western frameworks but modeled on its own country – to empower and realize the potential of the other half of its population, long mistreated and marginalized, and set new norms for global engagement as the country faces new challenges and opportunities in an ever-changing world. And an Indian feminist voice enriching the global discourse would not be the first of its kind. The path to an IFFP is already being illuminated by pioneering Indian diplomats, including Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit, Hansa Mehta, CB Muthamma, Chokila Iyer and countless others.
During his time as chairman of the G-20 group in 2023, India established a Women’s Empowerment Working Group and successfully integrated gender discourse into the broad agenda of the world’s largest economies. The momentum around women-specific policy agendas must continue when India hosts the 18th annual BRICS summit in September 2026, and it must set out its goal of pursuing a “gender-sensitive” foreign policy in a predominantly non-Western coalition. And India must heed the clarion call of Kristina Lunz, executive director of the Center for Feminist Foreign Policy argues succinctly“The future of foreign policy is feminist.”
Yash Chandan is a final year law student at the National Law University, Sonepat. Her research interests include gender and international relations, queer politics, foreign policy and perspectives of the Global South.