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journalist for The Economist and The Observer, Strange was well placed to study the relationship between state power and global finance. At Chatham House she turned to research, deepening her theories which led to the establishment of international political economy as a field of study. Strange built the graduate programme in international political economy at London School of Economics as well as co-founding the British International Studies Association, and she became the first female president of the International Studies Association. WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY Dame Margaret Anstee (1926-2016) Lifetime UN Diplomat Dame Margaret Anstee is widely described as a woman of firsts. She joined Britain’s Foreign Office in 1948 when it opened diplomatic positions to women. But the Foreign Office’s policy on not allowing married women in service led to her resignation a year later. She then joined the United Nations, and over a 40-year career became the first female head of economic and social development, as well as peacekeeping missions throughout the developing world, rising to the rank of under-secretary-general. Anstee chaired the Windhoek seminar which provided the foundational documents for UN Security Council Resolution 1325, putting women, peace and security on the global agenda. 18 MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS Hanan Ashrawi (1946-) Executive Committee Member, Palestine Liberation Organization Since the 1987 intifada, Ashrawi has championed Palestinian selfdetermination in many roles. She was the official spokesperson for the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks brokered by George HW Bush from 1991 to 1993. A pioneer like her father, a founder of the Palestinian Liberal Organization, Hanan was elected to the Executive Committee of the PLO in 2009, becoming the first woman to serve in Palestine’s highest executive body. Never scared to press for change, she has embodied the ‘new spirit of Palestinian pragmatism’, and her work on gender equality and nation-building has rippled throughout the region. Her contributions to Palestinian culture and civil society run parallel to her official roles: she founded several initiatives and championed Palestinian literature with poems and books. THE LANDMINE BAN Jody Williams (1950-) Founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines Jody Williams is a peace campaigner who is a living inspiration for grassroots activists seeking global change. She is best known for establishing the International Campaign to Ban Landmines in the early 1990s. The campaign grew from a collaborative effort between two NGOs into an initiative encompassing more than 1,300 organizations, spread across 95 countries, and culminated in the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997 with more than 100 signatories. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the same year. In 2006, she joined forces with fellow women laureates to establish the Nobel Women’s Initiative with the aim of amplifying the work of other women fighting for gender equality and world peace. THE PARIS AGREEMENT Christiana Figueres (1956-) Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change This Costa Rican diplomat has worked in public service for 40 years beginning in the Costa Rican embassy in Germany. In the mid-1990s, Christiana Figueres joined the Costa Rican climatechange negotiating team, and in 2010 she was appointed executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, responsible for the international climate change negotiations after the failed COP15 in Copenhagen. Her leadership culminated in the first legally binding treaty uniting countries under the common goal of limiting global warming – the Paris Agreement.
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Feminist foreign policy situations. Last year, this systematic approach was taken forward during the Swedish term as chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and will continue throughout our presidency of the council of the European Union in . Even trade agreements are analysed in terms of gender under our feminist trade policy. Strong political leadership is needed, and it takes courage and patience. This leadership needs to be combined with clear ownership and lines of responsibility at all levels. A gender perspective must be integrated into systems, processes and responsibility structures. Through our feminist foreign policy, we have achieved significant results. One example is Sweden’s establishment of a network of women mediators who are active all around the world, championing issues relating to women, peace and security. We have also substantially increased our financial support to gender equality initiatives. Today, about per cent of Swedish bilateral development aid is gender-mainstreamed or has gender equality as a main objective. Dialogue with, protection of, and support for women’s rights organizations and women’s human rights defenders are key elements of Sweden’s feminist foreign policy. Sweden supports umbrella organizations for women’s rights groups that can offer support and protection to women human rights defenders worldwide, for example in countries such as Afghanistan, Indonesia, Syria and Pakistan. Sweden is also a global champion of sexual and reproductive health and rights, and we are one of the largest donors to the UN Population Fund. This is important, not least in view of the resistance to gender equality and sexual and reproductive health and rights from various countries and movements. We have pushed for women’s economic empowerment as it is critical to gender equality. Sweden is currently co-leading an Action Coalition on Economic Justice and Rights within the UN initiative Generation Equality. In this coalition, we have committed to working to strengthen women’s economic empowerment over five years. A lesson learnt from our feminist foreign policy work is that gender equality often arouses strong reactions. It touches upon key issues such as the distribution of power, resources and influence. It is important to be context-specific and to rely on research, experience and arguments that show that gender equality benefits society at large, for example in terms of social and economic development. As long as the daily lives of women and girls around the world are marked by discrimination and systematic subordination, a feminist foreign policy is needed. A great deal of work remains to be done, but the progress over the past seven years shows that pursuing a feminist foreign policy makes a difference. Sofia Calltorp is the Ambassador for Gender Equality and Coordinator of the Feminist Foreign Policy, Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Sweden MEXICO AIMS TO LEAD THE WAY Daniela Philipson García on a unique opportunity for regional leadership on gender In March , Victoria Salazar, a Salvadoran immigrant and single mother of two, died in Tulum, Mexico after a policewoman knelt on her back and broke her neck while three other officers watched. A year before Salazar’s death, the Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Affairs announced what could be a promising new era in tackling the challenges underlying Salazar’s killing. In January , Mexico became the first country in Latin America and the Global South to adopt a feminist foreign policy. The reasoning for following the feminist approach is because ‘the feminist struggle for gender equality has been at the forefront of seeking the emancipation of society’s most vulnerable groups,’ according to Martha Delgado Peralta, the foreign ministry’s undersecretary for multilateral affairs and human rights. The aims of the new policy are to raise the profile of Mexico’s international leadership on gender; to ensure gender and intersectionality are embedded throughout Mexico’s foreign policy; and to promote gender parity among its staff. Additionally, it seeks to eliminate gender-based violence within the secretariat itself. A survey from the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, found that . per cent of Mexican women face genderbased violence in the workplace. While overly inward-looking, it is an acknowledgement that the foreign ministry must get its own house in order if it is to have a chance of achieving more ambitious goals abroad . What’s lacking are a framework, roadmaps and targets to measure success. The circumstances that led to the killing of Salazar point to three issues that challenge Mexico and Latin America more broadly. To promote a feminist vision abroad, a feminist foreign policy in Mexico should address and finance long-term solutions to the issues that disproportionately harm women, chiefly gender-based violence, immigration and economic inequality. For many of the country’s feminists, Mexico’s commitment to this approach rings hollow. In Mexico, ten women are killed each day. Many of these killings are considered femicides or hate-crime killings. Gender-based violence across Latin America is equally prevalent. According to the Wilson Centre, the region is home to of the countries in the world with the highest rate of femicide. A feminist foreign policy in Mexico could 19

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journalist for The Economist and The Observer, Strange was well placed to study the relationship between state power and global finance. At Chatham House she turned to research, deepening her theories which led to the establishment of international political economy as a field of study. Strange built the graduate programme in international political economy at London School of Economics as well as co-founding the British International Studies Association, and she became the first female president of the International Studies Association.

WOMEN, PEACE AND SECURITY

Dame Margaret Anstee

(1926-2016) Lifetime UN Diplomat

Dame Margaret Anstee is widely described as a woman of firsts. She joined Britain’s Foreign Office in 1948 when it opened diplomatic positions to women. But the Foreign Office’s policy on not allowing married women in service led to her resignation a year later. She then joined the United Nations, and over a 40-year career became the first female head of economic and social development, as well as peacekeeping missions throughout the developing world, rising to the rank of under-secretary-general. Anstee chaired the Windhoek seminar which provided the foundational documents for UN Security Council Resolution 1325, putting women, peace and security on the global agenda.

18

MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS

Hanan Ashrawi

(1946-) Executive Committee Member, Palestine Liberation Organization

Since the 1987 intifada, Ashrawi has championed Palestinian selfdetermination in many roles. She was the official spokesperson for the Palestinian delegation to the peace talks brokered by George HW Bush from 1991 to 1993. A pioneer like her father, a founder of the Palestinian Liberal Organization, Hanan was elected to the Executive Committee of the PLO in 2009, becoming the first woman to serve in Palestine’s highest executive body. Never scared to press for change, she has embodied the ‘new spirit of Palestinian pragmatism’, and her work on gender equality and nation-building has rippled throughout the region. Her contributions to Palestinian culture and civil society run parallel to her official roles: she founded several initiatives and championed Palestinian literature with poems and books.

THE LANDMINE BAN

Jody Williams

(1950-) Founding coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines

Jody Williams is a peace campaigner who is a living inspiration for grassroots activists seeking global change. She is best known for establishing the International

Campaign to Ban Landmines in the early 1990s. The campaign grew from a collaborative effort between two NGOs into an initiative encompassing more than 1,300 organizations, spread across 95 countries, and culminated in the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997 with more than 100 signatories. She was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in the same year. In 2006, she joined forces with fellow women laureates to establish the Nobel Women’s Initiative with the aim of amplifying the work of other women fighting for gender equality and world peace.

THE PARIS AGREEMENT

Christiana Figueres

(1956-) Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

This Costa Rican diplomat has worked in public service for 40 years beginning in the Costa Rican embassy in Germany. In the mid-1990s, Christiana Figueres joined the Costa Rican climatechange negotiating team, and in 2010 she was appointed executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, responsible for the international climate change negotiations after the failed COP15 in Copenhagen. Her leadership culminated in the first legally binding treaty uniting countries under the common goal of limiting global warming – the Paris Agreement.

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