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For a feminist foreign policy of the EU - My comment in the IP

Gender equality initiatives and action plans in the field of foreign and security policy have now been in place for almost 20 years. In my commentary for the magazine "Internationale Politik" (IP) I explained why the status quo is so frightening, how much work still lies ahead and why a feminist foreign policy is vital for the future of our work at the EU.

Eleven years after the creation of the EU Task Force on Women, Peace and Security, all twelve EU missions are led by men. In the military staff, the ratio is hardly better, with 22 women out of a 176 staff, and in the European External Action Service, women make up only 12% of staff in the highest pay grades. So there is still much room for improvement in this area. A binding quota of 50% women at all levels of the External Action Service by 2024 is therefore one of the demands of the report on a feminist foreign policy for the EU, which I have written together with my colleague Ernest Urtasun. 

What else needs to be done and where do we go from here with the parliamentary report? You can read all this in the IP. 

Those who exclude women close the path to lasting peace. Foreign policy can only succeed, can only be sustainable, if the status of women is raised, in structures dealing with foreign policy and in foreign policy measures. That's the cake. Not the cherry on top.

For a feminist foreign policy of the EU

You can read the commentary here!

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