Gender-based violence affects an estimated 736 million women worldwide, so ending it must be a key aspect of countries’ domestic and foreign policies. Every year from November 25 to December 10, advocates and governments around the world 16 days of action against gender-based violenceIt highlights the devastating impact of gender-based violence and the various efforts being taken to end it. But just focusing isn’t enough. 16th Or treat this as a domestic issue, separate from global security concerns. Using a feminist foreign policy lens makes these connections clear as it explicitly expands the concept of security and focuses on gender equality as a strategy and goal of foreign policy.
Gender-based violence is not the same as violence against women and girls, but the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably. The phrase ‘gender-based’ acknowledges that violence is based on gender norms, control and unequal power relations. Although women, men, girls and boys can be equally affected, it is women and girls who are most affected. Globally, one in three women experiences gender-based violence, and in fragile and conflict-affected settings the numbers are much higher. Girls are particularly at risk, as 25% of adolescent girls report abuse by an intimate partner.
Gender-based violence has many facets, including rape, intimate partner violence, conflict-related sexual violence, early and forced marriage, honor killings, emotional abuse, and online harassment. One of the extreme cases that has captivated France and the world in recent times was that of Gisèle Pelicot, whose husband Dominique Pelicot was found guilty of raping and drugging her for nearly a decade. Judgment has been received. He also invited dozens of other men to her home to rape her while she was unconscious. This horrific incident is one of many examples of gender-based violence, which reflects its underlying social norms and human costs.
Acts of gender-based violence are part of human rights violations that reflect gender inequality and patriarchal gender norms embedded in our society. Gender-based violence makes individuals and communities more unstable and vulnerable, makes it difficult for women and girls to fully participate in society and public life, and ultimately robs them of their talents and skills. Gender-based violence has numerous negative impacts, limiting the earning potential of individual survivors as they are unable to work and prefer to miss work more frequently. Educational attainment declines and financial burdens for health care, legal services, and migration costs increase. This further translates into an increase in physical injuries, disabilities and deaths (e.g. homicides, suicides, etc.).
Gender-based violence, along with all aspects of gender inequality, is also a foreign policy and national security issue, directly affecting and perpetuating social vulnerabilities that undermine stability and security. Countries with a high level of gender equality are less likely to be the first to use force in a conflict, and conversely, countries with a high level of gender inequality are more likely to initiate or intervene in a conflict. Scholars argue that this is because social norms of equality tend to create conditions for using persuasion and diplomacy rather than violence to resolve conflicts.
Moreover, gender-based violence reduces economic growth from central to low. Because countries with higher levels of economic development have more stable security environments, a lack of economic opportunities often leads to political instability. Intimate partner violence, one of the most prevalent forms of gender-based violence, costs 5.2% of global GDP. The McKinsey analysis mapped data from 95 countries as in the “maximum potential” scenario. If women participated in their countries’ economies equally as men, global GDP would increase to $2.8 trillion, or 26% of global GDP. This is roughly equivalent to the economies of China and the United States combined in 2015. McKinsey also found that “while no country has high (social) gender equality, virtually no country has low gender equality in the workplace.” Similarly, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated that gender discrimination reduced global income by 7.5% in 2017.
Despite this data, gender-based violence is often seen as a domestic problem with little impact beyond the immediate impact. Using a feminist foreign policy framework can help change this perception and ensure that addressing gender-based violence becomes a core part of foreign policy and national security. Feminist foreign policy integrates the goals of gender equality across national security and foreign policy. This framework reexamines traditional approaches to foreign policy and questions assumptions about international relations, power, security, war and conflict resolution. Some of these assumptions are gender specific, including the belief that the human dimension of security is secondary to the geopolitics that guide foreign policy and national security decisions. The feminist foreign policy framework explicitly recognizes that gender equality reduces conflict, builds safer societies, and ensures that diverse talents and opinions are used to solve problems.
Approximately 15 countries have feminist development policies and/or feminist trade policies. Although all are context-specific, they share certain core characteristics, including gender equality as a goal and strategy. Expanding our definition of security, elevating diverse voices; And there is a desire to address historic power imbalances. Redefining what constitutes security is central to feminist foreign policy, a framework that addresses issues that disproportionately affect women and girls and must be considered in developing a country’s foreign policy and national security strategy. This includes not only gender-based violence, but also other non-traditional security issues such as climate change, girls’ access to education, maternal and reproductive health, and child marriage that impact countries’ foreign policies.
Feminist foreign policy means moving away from traditional security perspectives that typically defend borders through military means and focusing on all aspects of human security. This expanded definition of security goes beyond the absence of conflict. It recognizes that human security concerns, including personal safety, climate change, natural disasters, persistent poverty, food insecurity, and pandemics, are fundamental, not secondary, to ensuring stability and security. Threats to human security are widespread and often intertwined with economic security, food security, health security, environmental security, personal security, community security, and political security.
For example, climate change is not only an environmental phenomenon but also a gender and security issue, highlighting the links between numerous issues that have not traditionally been considered important in the traditional security sphere. The United Nations estimates that 80% of people displaced by climate change are women and children, putting them at disproportionately high risk of gender-based violence. Women and girls experience gender-based violence during forced migration and in camps, where they are vulnerable to assault, trafficking and forced marriage. Climate-related shocks force girls into marriage and further trade them for food.
“Bride price” is another example of how non-traditional issues impact security. Valerie Hudson and Hilary Matfess (2018) described how the practice of the groom’s family paying bride price to his future in-laws has far-reaching implications. This may prevent men from marrying, mainly due to high costs, reduced social connections for men, and increased likelihood of involvement in criminal or terrorist groups, thereby exacerbating the vulnerability of the country by earning money from bride prices. For men in these societies, marriage is central to their status as community members and their ability to have, as Hudson and Matfess characterize it, “a significant voice in the male community.”
In conflict situations, civilians are exposed to high levels of conflict-related sexual violence. Both state and non-state actors are targeting civilians through rape, gang rape, and kidnapping, worsening already fragile environments. Conflict-related sexual violence also increases displacement and vulnerability, fostering competition for scarce resources. The link between conflict-related sexual violence and security has been recognized by UN Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) No. 1325 and UNSCR Resolution No. 1820.
By broadening the definition of security, most countries that adopt feminist foreign policies emphasize the importance of women’s equal access to economic opportunities. For example, Sweden and Canada have developed feminist trade policies, and Canada, France, and Germany have reimagined development assistance from a feminist perspective. Feminist foreign policy is a means of ensuring that the human aspects of security are better understood as an integral part of national security and foreign policy. In a constantly challenging and changing world, it is essential that policymakers consider the full context and set of issues involved when making decisions. Gender is not an add-on; it is the key to understanding the many problems we collectively face. Integrating them is essential to deploying the most effective solutions.
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