Retrieved 5: Gender & Peace-Building
What can a feminist foreign policy bring to peacebuilding efforts? What can national governments learn from civil societies when it comes to ensuring a long-lasting peace? And what will it take to truly have equal representation at the negotiating table? In this episode, activist, academic, and NGO leader Maria Hadjipavlou talks us through the important work she has done for the divided communities in Cyprus over the past four decades. Looking back at her work she shines a light on how a feminist approach to conflict resolution could help create a better chance for longer lasting peace.
In the series of podcasts ‘Retrieved’, by the Heinrich Böll Foundation - Thessaloniki office, we bring together experts, policy-makers and members of the civil society. We take a closer look at feminist foreign policy and understand what it means for the peace-building, migration, defence and many other policy areas.
Feminism and patriarchy are terms we tend to encounter in discussions about the way societies are organised internally. And yet, foreign policy, just like most fields of policy-making, is heavily affected by patriarchal structures and prejudice. However, its future can be better. With the help of policy advisors, journalists, researchers, and politicians, we examine how feminist foreign policy can reflect the interests of all genders and often overlooked stakeholders: from peace-building and climate, to migration and defence policy, we look to examples from across the EU that show how this bold new model benefits society at large - and the challenges on the horizon. Can feminism retrieve a new foreign policy mantra out of the dusty ideas of the past?