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A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign

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 Sari Kouvo

A Challenging Agenda for

Troubled Times: The Swedish
Feminist Foreign Policy
Sari Kouvo*

Abstract: In 2014, the Swedish Government declared that it was a feminist government. Foreign Minister
Margot Wallström also took the opportunity to announce that Sweden would become the first country in
the world to adopt a feminist foreign policy. The feminist banner was raised at a time when Europe, in-
cluding Sweden, was grappling with what has come to be called the migration crisis and a rise in violent
extremism across ideological, political and religious boundaries, and when the world seemed to be shifting
further into conflict mode. This is also a time when notions of feminism and gender equality are as furi-
ously promoted as they are contested.
The aim of this article is first, to situate the Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy in the broader context of
Swedish equality politics and foreign policy. Second, to discuss how the term feminism used in the policy
and what the overall contents of the policy are. Third, to problematize the policy through two examples
focusing on the one hand on the challenge of a braver politics and on the other hand on the in-built tension
between Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy and the Swedish trade and defence interests and in particular
Swedish arms trade. The article focuses on developments during the first government term, 2014–2018,
but it will also touch upon the developments during the second government term, 2019–2022.
The article shows that the Policy has made a difference. It has raised awareness and built knowledge
of women’s rights and equality within the Ministry and helped ensure that these issues are systematically
integrated into much of foreign policy. The fact that the Policy has continued after the elections and is

* Sari Kouvo, Associate Professor, Department of Law, Gothenburg University. Anna-Karin Larsson
contributed with research assistance and text for the part concerning the Swedish defence industry.
The author wishes to thank those who agreed to be interviewed for this article. The author wishes
to thank Corey Levine and Susan Harris Rimmer for information about policies similar to Swedish
Feminist Foreign Policy in Canada and Australia. The author also wishes to thank Dianne Otto,
Laura Davis, Elin Sandegård, Charlotta Becker Sjöström, Markus Gunneflo, Leila Brännström and
the academic reviewers for their insightful comments on early versions of this article. The article also
benefited from comments made during a seminar about feminist foreign policy at the Department of
Law at Gothenburg University (spring 2019). The author also wishes to thank Nadia Siddiqui for a
language edit of an early version of this article.
I wish to dedicate this article to my father, Heimo Kouvo, who died on 1 May 2018. Much of the
reading and writing of this article was done while sitting by his side in hospital. Heimo described
himself as a ‘news geek’, following the news and wanting to discuss politics until the last weeks of
his life. His opinions were often stark, but always modestly articulated and with an underlying note
of kindness. A modesty and kindness that we need much more of.

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A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy

now being taken forward for another government term has helped institutionalise the policy and may also
have increased international interest.

Key words: Feminist foreign policy, Nordic state feminism, Nordic legal studies, Sweden, human rights,
gender equality, equal representation, participation, defence industry

1. Introduction mat noted would defy simplification and tackle

complexities (Anonymous 2017. Swedish diplo-
‘Equality is core business. The benefits of
mat interviewed by the author, 10 May). For yet
equality for social and economic develop-
others, the announcement seemed to suggest
ment cannot be disputed’ (Anonymous
trading careful steering through increasingly
2017. Interview with former Swedish
tense international relations for a bombastic,
diplo­mat by author, 8 May)
single-issue politics. Internationally, the Swed-
‘We should never simplify. Refusing to tackle ish Feminist Foreign Policy was met with cu-
the complexities will only hurt women’ riosity: Wallström has been invited to explain
(Anonymous 2017. Swedish diplo­mat inter­ her politics in many international forums. The
viewed by the author, 10 May). policy has also had ripple effects on other gov-
ernments and on international civil society or-
In 2014, the incoming Swedish Foreign Minister, ganisations and think tanks.
Margot Wallström (Social Democratic Party), These are challenging times for launching
announced that Sweden would be the first and implementing a feminist foreign policy.
country in the world to have a feminist foreign First, such a policy needs to deal with the shift-
policy. Her announcement was in line with the ing meanings evoked by the term feminism in
overall commitment by the coalition govern- scholarly, activist and policy-centred arenas.
ment between the Swedish social democratic Most feminists may still agree that feminism
and green parties to be a feminist government. is a perspective focused on promoting equality
Wallström’s announcement was met with between women and men, but there will be less
shrugs, praise and dismay. For some, the an- agreement on what the key gendered inequali­
nouncement was just business as usual in a time ties are, how they are manifested and interact
when if not feminism, then at least women’s with other mechanisms of inclusion and exclu-
rights and equality had been mainstreamed into sion at national and international levels and
law and politics at national and international what strategies should be deployed to promote
levels. It was, as a former Swedish diplomat equality. These differences and dividing lines
noted, already ‘core business’ (Anonymous between feminisms are extensively debated in
2017. Interview with former Swedish diplomat feminist scholarship, but they are often toned
by author, 8 May). For others, the use of the down when feminism is turned into govern-
word feminism held the promise of a foreign ment gender equality policies or when guiding
policy that, building on an intersectional femi­ international civil society engagements in the
nist agenda, would challenge global inequalities field of development or conflict resolution and
and seek to tackle the war mongering, preda- peace-building (for discussion, see Charles-
tory and profit-driven politics currently fuel- worth 2008; Halley 2006; Otto 2009; O’Rourke
ling conflicts around the world and pushing 2014). Second, the policy needs to navigate de­
the planet towards ecological catastrophe. That cades’ worth of gender equality language and
is, a feminist foreign policy held the promise the layers of meaning and compromises and
of a different politics that, as a Swedish diplo- instances of co-option built into terms such

Side 66 Retfærd | Nr. 4 | 2019

 Sari Kouvo

as gender equality, women’s human rights, man-Rosamond 2016; Lackenbauer 2016; Rosén
women, peace and security, sexual and gen- Sundström and Elgström 2018). This author
der-based violence and women’s representa- wishes to contribute to further academic dis-
tion, participation and empowerment (Charles- cussion about the Policy. Second, it is a bold
worth 2008; Kouvo 2004; O’Rourke 2014; Otto move to call a foreign policy ‘feminist’, and it is
2010; Squires 2007). Third, it needs to tackle the bold in a different way from the fear mongering,
ongoing attacks on feminisms and even basic populist nationalism that currently seems to be
notions of equality by reactionary forces across high on the agenda for world leaders on both
the political and ideological spectrum. Finally, it side of the Atlantic and beyond. This author
needs to provide concrete policy alternatives for considers it useful to show the Swedish Policy
these times marked by a decreased commitment as an alternative, without shying away from its
to multilateralism from major European and challenges and shortcomings.
world powers and increased global scale turbu- The second motive evokes a fundamental
lence due to, inter alia, environmental di­sasters tension or dilemma relevant to much of the
and climate change, the negative effects of neo­ feminist scholarship on international law and
liberal globalisation and a rise in nationalism politics. This tension or dilemma was already
and violent extremisms. This is obviously an articulated by Hilary Charlesworth and Chris-
overwhelming task for one government to ad- tine Chinkin in their landmark publication The
dress, but one government – particularly if pri- Boundaries of International Law (Charlesworth
oritising alliance building and multilateralism and Chinkin 2000): feminist scholars criticise
– can sow the seeds for change and ensure that international law and its institutions for their
these can grow. gender biases, blind spots and exclusions, while
In light of the above, the aim of this article is at the same time not wanting to undermine the
first to situate the Swedish Feminist Foreign Pol- potential of international law for promoting
icy in the broader context of Swedish equality women’s rights and gender equality. They do
politics and foreign policy. Second, to discuss so, not naïve about biases in international law
how the term feminism is used in the policy and or the male dominance of international politics
what the overall content of the policy is. Third, and law, but because the violations suffered by
to problematize the policy through two exam- and the challenges faced by women across the
ples focusing on the one hand on the challenge globe make discarding any possible tool for
of a braver politics and on the other hand on the change seem a luxury (for discussion, see Kouvo
in-built tension between Sweden’s Feminist For- and Pearson, eds. 2011). The complex exercise
eign Policy and Swedish defence industry and of deconstructing-while-reconstructing, criti-
in particular Swedish arms trade. That is, the cising-while-saving and challenging-while-de-
article aims to answer the questions: Why did fending has been a recurring theme in feminist
Sweden adopt a feminist foreign policy in 2014? scholarship throughout recent decades (Char-
What was feminist about this policy, and what lesworth and Chinkin 2000, Buss and Manji,
content was given to the policy? What were the eds. 2005, Otto 2009 and 2010 and O’Rourke
results of the policy – what could it and what 2014). The relative responsiveness of interna-
could it not do? The last question will be studied tional law and politics to feminist demands for
through the two examples. women’s rights and gender policies has resulted
There are two main motives behind this in a new stream of critical scholarship about the
article. First, there has been limited academic allure of internationalism, the risks of co-op-
research about the Swedish Feminist Foreign tion and the costs of compromises (Buchanan
Policy (Egnell 2016; Aggestam and Berg- and Pahuja 2002, Otto 2009 and 2010, O’Rourke

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A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy

2014), as well as about the biases and exclusion- author also conducted interviews with Swedish
ary effects of these compromises (Charlesworth diplomats, civil servants and representatives of
2008, Kapur 2018 and Otto 2017). Contemporary advocacy-oriented civil society organisations.
international law and politics have largely inte- Eleven interviews in the form of semi-struc-
grated the language of feminists and women’s tured conversations were conducted in Brussels
rights advocates, but they have not necessarily and Stockholm in May 2017, two interviews in
integrated the aims of women’s rights advocates May and June 2018 in Brussels and by telephone
or feminist methods (Kouvo 2004 and Charles- and video link, and one additional interview
worth 2011). was conducted in November 2019 by telephone.
Theoretically and methodologically the ar- The last interview was an update interview with
ticle draws on the author’s previous research a person already interviewed in 2017. The in-
that has focused on the interaction between terviews aimed mainly to provide background
law, policy and politics for promoting gender to the development of the Swedish Feminist
equality in Sweden and internationally (Kouvo Foreign Policy and to unpack it in relation to
2004; Kouvo 2005). It draws on the theoretical international law and current global affairs. The
and methodological insights of Nordic and in- results of the interviews are mainly used in the
ternational feminist legal scholarship that ana- sections focusing on the development and re-
lyse international law in context making use of sults of the Feminist Foreign Policy. Illustrative
its explicit expressions, but also being attentive quotes from the interviews also introduce the
to its built-in compromises and hidden biases.1 different sections of the article.
The empirical material used in this article in-
cludes mainly Swedish, EU and UN policy and 2. From the Vision of a Feminist State to a
legal documents, previous research about the Feminist Foreign Policy
Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy (Egnell 2016;
‘Gender equality issues are not yet at the
Aggestam and Bergman-Rosamond 2016; Lack-
point where they will stay on the agenda
enbaur 2016; Rosén Sundström and Elgström;
without a fight’ (Anonymous 2018. Swedish
CONCORD 2016, 2017 and 2018) and newspa-
civil servant interviewed by the author,
per and other media reports about the policy
7 June).
(Maccoby Berglof 2015; Nordberg 2015).2 The
‘There is always a gap between policy and
practice, but when that gap becomes too big,
1. For an introduction to Nordic gender legal we are in trouble’ (Anonymous 2017. Swed-
studies, see the edited volumes published by
ish civil servant interviewed by the author,
Ashgate Nousiainen et al. 2001, Svensson et al.,
2004 and Gunnarsson et al. 2007. For an intro- 10 May).
duction to feminist critical scholarship on in-
ternational law in particular, see Charlesworth Situating the Policy: Nordic State Feminism and
and Chinkin 2000, Buss and Manji, eds, 2005, Swedish Neutrality Politics
Kouvo and Pearson, eds. 2011 and Kouvo and
This section situates the Swedish Feminist For-
Pearson, eds. 2014. For an introduction to femi-
nist perspectives on international relations and eign Policy within the tradition of Nordic State
politics, see Enloe 2013 and Sjoberg 2013. For Feminism, but also within the balancing act of
an introduction to the more operationally or Swedish foreign policy between commitments
empirically oriented scholarship on women,
peace and security, see Boyd, ed. 2014 and
Gizelis and Olsson, ed. 2015. Swedish international development website
2. Newspaper articles and events relating to the www.bistandsdebatten.se Accessed 2 June
feminist foreign policy are collected on the 2017.

Side 68 Retfærd | Nr. 4 | 2019

 Sari Kouvo

to equality, human rights and global solidarity states relied heavily on women entering the la-
and Sweden’s role in arms’ trade. bor force, not least to serve as the primary work-
The Nordic model of democratic welfare force of the expanding public care sector. For
states that developed in the latter half of the the states, creating the opportunities for women
20th century included a strong focus on equality to work was a cheaper option than relying on
between women and men. This model has in- migrant labor, and for the women’s movement
cluded not only a focus on formal equality and promoting women’s economic independence
equal rights, but systematic efforts to promote was an evident next step from the early 20th
equal opportunities and social equality. The century’s civil and political rights’ struggles.
Nordic model has received considerable inter- The states’ responsiveness to the demands of
national attention (see further Kvist et al. 2012; the women’s movements contributed to the
Melby et al. 2009), and has led to the Nordic visionary – or possibly utopian – dimension
states being considered frontrunners in equality of Nordic state feminism. That is, Nordic state
between women and men (Alter 2015, World feminisms – whether activist or academic – have
Economic Forum 2017). For example, Swe- been convinced that the woman-friendly state
den led the World Economic Forum’s Gender is possible (Norborg et al. 1995; Gunnarsson
Gap Index in 2006 and was in fourth place in and Svensson 2012). Feminist scholars of inter-
2016 (World Economic Forum 2017), and it has national law, as was noted in the introduction,
ranked top in the EU’s Gender Equality Index have been less optimistic about the promise of
since 2005. Finland, Norway and Iceland were (international) law (Charlesworth and Chinkin
also highly placed in the rankings (European 2000; Enloe 2013; Sjoberg 2013; Stewart 2011).
Institute for Gender Equality 2017).3 While occasionally overtaken by the potential
The Nordic model’s strong focus on equal of international law and the allure of having
opportunities and social equality was enabled a global audience, feminist international legal
by strategic partnerships between the Nordic scholarship has consistently focused on the
governments and the Nordic women’s move- challenges of international law and organisa-
ment. The term ‘state feminism’ coined by Helga tions: their level of abstraction, male dominance
Hernes is often used to describe this partnership and distance from the diverse experiences and
between the state and the women’s movements realities of women across the globe (Charles-
in the Nordic countries. Nordic state feminism worth and Chinkin 2000; Kouvo 2004).
had both a practical and a visionary dimension The close connection between the late 20th
(Hernes 1987). In practice, the Nordic welfare century Nordic welfare state and the struggles
for equality between women and men was pos-
3. The World Economic Forum’s Global Gen- sibly most pronounced in Swedish politics (see
der Gap Report and the European Union’s further Griffin 2016; Svensson et al. 2004). In
Gender Equality Index measure progress on 1990, a government study on the state of Swed-
equality in different fields, including politics, ish democracy was published. It included a
economy, health, education and family. The
chapter by Yvonne Hirdman outlining a the-
fact that states rank slightly differently on the
different indexes is due to the different scale ory about the Swedish gender system (SOU
and methodologies used. For further analysis, 1990:44). According to Hirdman, the Swedish
see the description of the methodologies used gender system continued to be based on two
here http://reports.weforum.org/global-gen- logics: separation of the sexes and male suprem-
der-gap-report-2016/measuring-the-glob-
acy. Hirdman’s study, together with important
al-gender-gap/ and http://eige.europa.eu/gen-
der-equality-index/about Accessed 10 January political mobilisation from women’s rights ac-
2018. tivists, contributed to convincing major political

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A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy

parties to increase the representation of women neutrality, and the close ties forged between
in their candidate lists. There was then a steady government and the private sector during the
rise in female parliamentarians from 1994 to years of war helped ensure the promotion of
2006 (40 per cent of Swedish parliamentarians one vision of neutrality, while promoting the
were women in 1994 and 47 per cent in 2006). interests of Swedish business and defence in-
In the 2010 and 2014 elections, there was a mod- dustry (Olsson 1977). Today Sweden remains an
erate decline, and following the 2018 elections important arms exporter in Europe and global-
46 per cent of parliamentarians are women. Not ly.4 At the same time, Sweden’s neutrality has
all women politicians are, of course, defenders been gradually dismantled over recent decades,
of women’s rights, and increased representa- as Sweden has joined the EU and has built closer
tion of women does not necessarily con­tribute – though still heavily debated – ties with the
to increased equality between women and North Atlantic Treaty Alliance (NATO). In these
men. However, the combination of decades of latter fora, Sweden has also committed to work
equality work and a critical mass of women in strands for peace, rights and equality. It is in the
Swedish politics has contributed to the adoption above – admittedly sketchily outlined – context
of a number of laws that sought to challenge that the Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy was
existing gender relations, including the law on developed. On the one hand, it was enabled by
prohibiting buying but not selling of sexual ser- a strong tradition to use state-centred politics
vices (Törnqvist 2007; Dahlerup 2012). It is in and law to promote equality and, on the other,
the above context that the Swedish Prime Min- its conception fed into the existing tension in
ister Göran Persson (Social Democratic Party) Swedish foreign policy between equality and
in 2002 declared that he was a ‘feminist’, but human rights and Sweden’s economic and de-
qualified it by saying that he did not want to fence interests.
push equality issues so hard that they would Before shifting the focus to the launch and
create hostilities in society. content of the Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy,
Sweden has also been a strong defender of it is important to note that although equality
women’s rights and gender equality interna- between women and men has held a relatively
tionally. Swedish post-World War II foreign prominent position in Swedish law and poli-
policy has sought to balance a commitment tics, equality has never been a neutral topic. In
to international solidarity and multilateralism Sweden, state feminism is increasingly seen as
with a strong defence industry with important appropriated by the political forces left of centre
trade and defence interests in arms’ and war and as seeking to govern peoples’ private lives
material exports. Sweden has sought to be a with one-size-fits-all approaches to equality.
normative foreign policy actor emphasising The criticism ranges from cautionary voices
solidarity, human rights and international co- noting that equality is important but not the
operation (Bjereld and Carmesund 2016). It has only priority to angry rants complaining about
been a strong supporter of the UN since its es-
tablishment, and among the five largest donors
4. Statistical and comparative data about Swe-
of humanitarian aid relative to national income den’s weapons exports can be found on
(OECD 2016; Parker 2016). At the same time, the website of Svenska Freds- och Skilje-
Sweden’s post-war foreign policy relied heav- domsnämnden, http://www.svenskafreds.se/
ily on the doctrine ‘Freedom from alliances in snabba-fakta-om-vapenexporten Accessed
20 October 2017. The Stockholm International
peacetime with a view to neutrality in wartime’
Peace Research Institute also has a comprehen-
(Olsson 1977, 183). A strong defence industry sive database of arms exports, https://www.
was seen as an important element in Swedish sipri.org/databases. Accessed 20 October 2017.

Side 70 Retfærd | Nr. 4 | 2019

 Sari Kouvo

women’s power and men’s lack of it in Swedish aspects of Swedish national or international
society.5 The social media boom of recent dec- equality politics and certainly not for the level
ades has brought the tensions out into the open, of political emphasis given to equality within
making it very clear that there are many angry the current Swedish Parliament. The Feminist
young and old men and some women out there Foreign Policy – because of its high profile and
who feel that they have lost out both to Swed- symbolic importance – may be one of the areas
ish feminists and to immigrants.6 The Feminist where political compromises are made. The risk
Foreign Policy survived the 2018 parliamentary of having aimed too high and possibly falling a
elections, as the new Swedish coalition govern- long way if the policy fails or is deemed to have
ment between the Social Democratic Party and failed was already noted in several of the back-
the Green Party affirmed that Sweden again has ground interviews done for this article in 2017.
a feminist government and that the Feminist
Foreign Policy will be continued.7 However, Unpacking the Policy: From
the 2018 parliamentary elections showed that Launch to Action Plan
Swedes were divided on what politics they The aim of this section is to discuss how the
wanted, shown by the fact that the three leading term feminism is used in the policy and what
parties in the elections were the Social Demo- the overall content of the policy was when the
cratic Party (100 seats), the Moderate Party (70 policy was launched and how it has developed
seats) and the Swedish Democrats (62 seats). over the years.
There is then no shared commitment for all When the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mar-
got Wallström, announced that Sweden would
have a Feminist Foreign Policy, she did not
5. An interesting example of this is the debate
define what she meant by the term feminism
in the Swedish media about whether gender
studies are a legitimate academic discipline, (Dagens Nyheter 2014).8 However, when asked
the critical voices on the one hand challenging, about it in an interview she noted that it was
gender studies at an ontological level and, on time to become ‘braver in politics’, and that the
the other, viewing gender mainstreaming as term simply meant equality between women
an ideological tool and as a threat to academic
and men (Nordberg 2015). Her announcement
independence. For the debate and responses to
it, see for example Ivar Arpi’s four part critique resonated with the Swedish Government’s over-
of gender studies in Svenska Dagbladet, one all commitment to be a feminist government,
of Sweden’s main daily newspapers, https:// i.e. that it would work to ensure that women
www.svd.se/sa-blev-genusvetenskap-over- and men, girls and boys have equal power and
kyrka-i-lund Accessed 7 July 2018 and Ulf
opportunity to influence society and their own
Mellerström’s responses to it, https://www.ge-
nus.se/notis/professor-bemoter-kritik-mot-ge- lives (Jämställdhet, 2017).9 The term feminism
nusvetenskap/ Accessed 7 June 2018.
6. For a discussion of the legal responses, see
Bladini, Moa. Hat och hot på nätet. En kartlägg- 8. For an overview of the Swedish Government’s
ning av den rättsliga regleringen i Norden från overall feminist policies, see http://www.
ett jämställdhetsperspektiv. NIKK. Göteborg, government.se/government-policy/a-femi-
2017, http://www.nikk.no/en/publications/on- nist-government/ Accessed 17 January 2018,
line-hate-speech/ Accessed 8 June 2018. its Feminist Foreign policy http://www.gov-
7. https://www.regeringen.se/tal/20192/01/re- ernment.se/government-policy/feminist-for-
geringsforklaringen-den-21-januari-2019/ Ac- eign-policy/ Accessed 17 January 2018.
cessed 11 November 2019 and https://www. 9. The Swedish government’s six equality targets
regeringen.se/regeringens-politik/en-feminis- were identified as: equal division of power
tisk-utrikespolitik/ Accessed 11 November and influence; financial gender equality; gen-
2019. der-equitable education; an even division of

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A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy

was then framed within the commitments al- resources was framed in terms of ‘smart power’
ready enshrined in the Swedish Constitution (Lackenbauer 2016).13
and international law.10 The policy resonated Wallström and the government seemed to
with other international initiatives, including use the term feminism mainly to signal a shift in
that of the UK Foreign Secretary William Hague degree and possibly branding rather than con-
to end sexual violence in conflict,11 the UN’s tent: the feminist foreign policy was about mak-
high-level review of 15 years of implementa- ing the notion of equality between women and
tion of UNSC Resolution 1325 (2000) on women, men recognised in the Swedish Constitution
peace and security and adoption of new action and international treaties reality. It is also about
plans for gender and women, peace and secu- focusing on issues that are deemed particularly
rity in the EU (Preventing Conflict 2015).12 Al- important for women or devastating for wom-
though the terminology is different, it also reso- en’s lives (for example, violence against women)
nated with the foreign policy vision articulated within the framework of rights, representation
by Hilary Clinton during the years when she and resources. That is, the term feminism was
was Secretary of State under President Barack used to move away from what a civil servant in-
Obama. Clinton did not call her policy feminist; terviewed for this article called ‘gender integra-
her focus on women’s representation, rights and tion policies that mainly skim the surface’ and
it aims, as another one noted, ‘to bridge the gap
between gender policies and practice’ (Anony-
unpaid housework and care work; gender mous 2018. Swedish civil servant interviewed
equal health; and men’s violence against by the author, 7 June and Anonymous 2017
women must end. https://www.government. Swedish civil servant interviewed by the author,
se/government-policy/gender-equality/goals-
10 May). Helena Lackenbauer argues that Wall-
and-visions/ Accessed 6 September 2018.
10. This is also a framework that Wallström is fa- ström’s feminist policy was largely inspired by
miliar with from her previous positions as Spe- Clinton’s notion of ‘smart power’ (Lackenbauer
cial Representative of the UN Secretary-Gen- 2016). This policy ‘…made the status of women
eral on Sexual Violence in Conflict and Vice a central concern of Clinton’s tenure. She sought
President of the European Commission. The
to transcend the simple-minded distinction be-
existing legal and policy frameworks would
include the key UN and Council of Europe tween “hard” and “soft” power by adopting the
treaties for human rights, thematic treaties on term “smart power,” to describe a form of state-
women’s rights and UN Resolution 1325 (2000) craft that combined development, diplomacy,
on Women, Peace and Security and all the re- public-private partnerships and, yes, military
lated Security Council resolutions. It would
power’ (Traub 2011). In order to manage the
also include the various policy platforms de-
veloped through, for example, the EU Gender shift from either hard or soft to smart, equal-
Action Plan or the UN 21 Sustainable Develop- ity needed to be rebranded as a win-win situa-
ment Goals one of which is focused entirely on tion for all (or at least for most). This strategic
gender equality. task was underpinned by seeking to make sure
11. See the website of the Global Summit to End
Sexual Violence in Conflict, https://www.gov.
uk/government/topical-events/sexual-vio-
lence-in-conflict Accessed 6 September 2018.
12. http://peaceoperationsreview.org/wp-content/ 13. Clinton’s strategy is best outlined in the First
uploads/2015/08/HIPPO_Report_1_June_2015. Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Re-
pdf and https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/ view (2010) entitled Leading Through Civilian
headQuarters-homepage/28969/report-base- Power, see https://www.state.gov/documents/
line-study-integration-human-rights-and-gen- organization/153108.pdf Accessed 13 June
der-csdp_en Accessed 16 November 2017. 2018.

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 Sari Kouvo

that new knowledge and alternative analysis is The matrix below provides a schematic
moved centre stage. overview of the Action Plan.
The announcement of the feminist foreign The Action Plan states that the ‘… feminist
policy seemed to have taken both the Ministry foreign policy means applying a systematic
and civil society colleagues by surprise. One for- gender perspective throughout foreign policy.
mer diplomat noted that ‘When I heard this [that We will act to promote girls’ and women’s rep-
a feminist foreign policy had been launched], I resentation, rights and resources in all parts of
wrote to Stockholm: So, how should I imple- this policy’ (Action Plan 2015, p. 3). The Action
ment this policy? A bit later, we all received Plan clearly framed the Feminist Foreign Policy
instructions from the Ministry to describe what within existing national, regional and interna-
meaning and content we would give to this tional legal and policy-based commitments for
policy, and what it meant for us’ (Anonymous gender equality and women’s rights (Feminist
2017. Interview with former Swedish diplomat Foreign Policy Action Plan 2015, 9–10). This
by author, 8 May). This was the beginning of includes commitments to equal rights and
the Action Plan for the Feminist Foreign Policy. non-discrimination and women’s human rights
The fact that the policy was launched without its articulated in regional and international human
content or direction having been clearly mapped rights treaties and national and international
out seemed to have taken some of the interview- policies focused on gender mainstreaming or
ees by surprise, but the fact that the Action Plan on the implementation of the women, peace
was developed in consultation with staff from and security agenda. The core of the legal and
the Ministry and Sweden’s diplomatic missions policy-based commitments is reproduced in the
across the globe was also highlighted by several Action Plan’s perspectives that focus on rights-
interviewees as a strength of the policy. A civil based approaches and participation. The per-
servant in the Ministry noted ‘[the Ministry in spective focused on resources also reproduces
Stockholm] could never have produced such the rights-based approach by emphasising that
a comprehensive Action Plan for the Feminist resource allocation should help ensure women’s
Foreign Policy if we had not been able to draw and girls’ enjoyment of human rights (Action
on the wealth of experience, and the creativity Plan 2015, 10). The Action Plan places strong
and continued engagement, of our missions: we emphasis on analysis and information gather-
now have an action plan that spans from gen- ing, on occasion defined as a fourth perspective
der perspectives in conflict resolution to gender focused on reality checks. All the Ministry’s pol-
perspectives in [embassy] logistics [services]’ icy-making, programming, reporting and moni-
(Anonymous 2017. Interview with civil serv- toring should also be informed by intersectional
ant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by author gender analysis that takes into account that
8 May). The result of the consultative process
was a brief and clear Action Plan that provides ‘…women and girls, just like men and boys,
a frame for the policy, sets out its basic princi- are not homogeneous groups – their iden-
ples and perspectives, outlines its priorities and tities, needs, participation and living con-
identifies tools. The Action Plan was adopted
in 2015, and has been updated annually (2016,
2017, 2018 and 2019, the last update was done icy/feminist-foreign-policy/ Accessed 12 No-
under the new government).14 vember 2019. The Feminist Foreign Policy is
discussed and framed in Wallström’s annual
foreign policy declarations to the Swedish Par-
14. For an overview of the action plan, see here liament. See, Utrikespolitisk declaration 2015,
https://www.government.se/government-pol- 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019.

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A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy

Frame Perspective Priorities Tools

1. National policies, includ- 1. A rights’ perspective 1. Human rights; 1. Data and analysis;
ing the National Gender Pol- focused on the full enjoy-
2. Freedom from violence 2. Accountability;
icy and the National Action ment of human rights by all
Plan on Women, Peace and women and girls, and com- 3. Conflict-resolution and 3. Agenda-setting;
Security; bating all forms of violence peace-building;
4. Alliance-building;
and discrimination;
2. Regional treaties and 4. Political participation;
5. Dialogue for influence and
policies, including the EU 2. A representation perspec-
5. Economic rights and em- data collection;
Treaty, EU gender policies, tive focused on women’s
powerment;
the European Convention on participation and influence in 6. Promotion and skills de-
Human Rights and Istanbul decision-making, as well as 6. Sexual and reproductive velopment;
Convention on combating dialogue with women represent- health and rights;
7. Negotiations, monitoring
violence against women; atives at all levels, including in
7. Intensifying of institution- and review;
civil society
3. International treaties alisation of the policy within
8. Routines for grant man-
and policies, including all 3. A resource perspective the Swedish foreign service
agement, meetings and
relevant human rights and ensuring that resources are (added 2017)
reporting;
humanitarian law treaties allocated to promote gender
and the UNSCRs on women, equality; 9. Positions in international
peace and security and all institutions and peace oper-
4. All action should be
relevant UN action plans and ations.
guided by reality checks and
programs.
analysis (note, the focus on
reality checks is not consist-
ently included as a perspec-
tive, it is sometimes included
as a tool).

Image: Overview of the Action Plan for the Feminist Foreign Policy 2015–2018, the same
format is chosen for the Action Plan 2019–2022, adopted under the new government.

ditions differ. The analysis must therefore throughout the lifespan of the policy, the pri-
consider other factors besides sex, such orities should be updated and fine-tuned on an
as age, place of residence, socioeconomic annual basis. For example, the 2019 update of
status, gender identity, gender expression, the action plan emphasised that:
sexual orientation, ethnicity, disability,
level of education, belief and religion. To ‘While the overall direction and methods
be complete, the analysis must also be ac- of Sweden’s feminist foreign policy remain
companied by an assessment of the power unchanged, in 2019 the Foreign Service will
relations that exist for different groups in step up its work in three areas:
the specific context.’ (Action Plan 2015:16). (1) Promote women’s and girls’ eco-
nomic and social empowerment. This
The six first priorities of the Action Plan repro- requires work with legal and normative
duce the emphasis on rights, representation and frameworks; against child marriage and
resources, i.e., (1) Women’s human rights; (2) gender-based violence; and for gender
Freedom from physical, psychological and sex- equality in trade and businesses.
ual violence; (3) Participation in prevention and (2) Increase efforts for sexual and re-
resolution of conflicts (Women, Peace and Se- productive health and rights. The right of
curity); (4) Political participation; (5) Economic women and girls to decide freely over their
empowerment; and (6) Sexual and reproduc- own bodies is being challenged. We respond
tive rights and health for all. The idea behind with an active policy and broad support.
the priorities of the Action Plan was that while (3) Enhance action on the Women,
the priorities should stay basically the same Peace and Security agenda. This involves

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 Sari Kouvo

promoting women’s participation in peace many respects. However, relying primarily on

processes, not least through work in the UN, the existing frameworks may contribute to a
the EU and the OSCE.’ (Feminist Foreign selective engagement with feminist ideas and
Policy 2019) risks reproducing stereotypical ideas about
women (Otto 2009, Otto 2010, Kouvo 2004).
The Action Plan’s combination of perspectives The policy was initially resourced by an
and priority areas was highlighted in one of the ambassador-level position and, at the time
interviews as a key strength also contributing when this author conducted her interviews
to the longevity of the Action Plan. The inter- in Stockholm in spring 2017, the ambassador
viewee noted that ‘the perspectives – rights, was aided by two advisers. Focal points for the
representation and resources – are useful for policy were established in all the departments
explaining the policy. The priority areas as they of the Ministry and in all diplomatic missions.
relate to already established working strands All departments and diplomatic missions were
within the foreign ministry and in international encouraged to have two focal points, one fo-
organisations are crucial for ensuring imple- cused on political affairs and one focused on
mentation’ (Anonymous 2019. Interview with development, in order to make it easier to gen-
civil servant by the author, 12 November). Sev- der-mainstream systematically in all policy ar-
eral of the interviewees highlighted the impor- eas in line with the fundamental aims of the
tance of having an accessible, easy-to-use Action policy. The managers were also encouraged to
Plan that was annually updated as important identify a man and a woman as the two focal
for keeping the policy up to date and concrete. points in order to emphasise that gender equal-
The fact that the Action Plan framed the ity is not a ‘women’s issue’, but everybody’s
Ministry’s feminist struggle within the existing concern (Anonymous 2017. Interview with civil
legal and policy-based commitments to equal servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by au-
participation and rights was most likely a strate- thor 8 May). This institutional setup has con-
gic choice, it allows the Ministry, both when in- tinued under the new government and action
stitutionalising the policy within its own ranks plan. As one interviewee noted, ‘the fact that
and when promoting it internationally, to draw the same institutional setup is being continued
on recognised and widely respected legal and under the new government has contributed to
policy commitments. For example, one of the institutionalising the policy’ (Anonymous 2019.
criticisms of the fore-mentioned UK initiative Interview with civil servant at the Ministry of
to end ending sexual violence in conflict voiced Foreign Affairs by author 12 November). The
to this author is that it cut across existing legal institutionalisation of the Policy then follows
and policy commitments on women, peace and the schema of best practice developed for gen-
security and gender-based and sexual violence, der mainstreaming and in different degrees
thereby creating a new policy strand instead of already implemented in international forums
strengthening the existing ones. However, plac- to which Sweden has contributed, including
ing the feminist policy firmly within the existing the UN, the EU and, to a lesser extent, NATO.15
legal and policy commitments, as Dianne Otto
had noted in her discussion about gender main- 15. The EU Baseline Study on Integrating Hu-
streaming in the UN, can be ‘double-edged’ man Rights and Gender into CSDP and the
(Otto 2009, 347). The use of existing legal and UN Peacekeeping review are instructive
readings in this regard, see http://peaceopera-
policy frameworks contributing to nudging
tionsreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/
equal rights and women’s participation forward HIPPO_Report_1_June_2015.pdf and https://
and these frameworks remain empowering in eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headQuar-

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A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy

That is, high-level political commitment is cou- eas of the policy.19 There have been activities
pled with expert advisers, focal points and the undertaken in all areas of the policy ranging
encouragement for all staff to use gender ana- from branding and visibility kind of activities,
lysis and reflect on both women’s and men’s such as the tour of the ‘Swedish Dads’ photo
experiences and needs when developing and exhibition that includes photos and stories from
implementing policies. fathers on parental leave with babies and tod-
Implementation of the policy was facilitated dlers to the systematic highlighting of women
by the development of a training package for throughout the Swedish membership in the UN
Ministry personnel. A Handbook for the Fem- Security Council. The policy has, as was noted
inist Foreign Policy that describes the policy, by one of the interviewees contributed to a ‘cul-
including its implementation was also adop­ tural shift’ within the Ministry and this shift
ted.16 The Handbook is a hands-on tool that can has had a ripple off effect bilaterally and multi­
be used by Swedish policy-makers when they laterally (Anonymous 2019. Interview with
implement the policy and in their interactions civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
with other governments. The Handbook is cou- by author 12 November). It is slowly becoming
pled with a report that focuses on showcasing recognised that ‘gender equality’ or ‘women’s
the implementation of the policy with examples rights’ should not be the responsibility of one
from the three first years of its implementation,17 adviser or focal point, but these are issues that
and a list of what the policy has contributed to.18 demand engagement both from experts and
Taken together the action plan, the Handbook across an institution. The fact that the policy has
and the examples of implementation show that continued under the new government and that
the Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy show that there is now an action plan 2.0 has, according
by placing equality centre stage and empha- to one of the interviewees, resulted in ‘further
sising gender analysis, the Ministry managed institutionalisation of the policy and increasing
to ensure progress in both multilateral and international attention: the fact that we have
bilateral forums. The assessments done by the continued the policy has showed that we are
Ministry itself and the few external assessments taking this seriously both internally and inter-
done, show that progress – or at least some level nationally’ (Anonymous 2019. Interview with
of implementation – has been done in all ar- civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
by author 12 November).
The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy has
then already gone further than Clinton’s smart
ters-homepage/28969/report-baseline-study-
power doctrine and Hague’s engagement for
integration-human-rights-and-gender-csdp_
en Accessed 16 November 2017. ending sexual violence in conflict that did not
16. https://www.government.se/4a7853/content­ survive the changes of government. This relative
assets/fc115607a4ad4bca913cd8d11c2339dc/ success is most likely due to the combination of
handbook---swedens-feminist-foreign-policy
Accessed 11 November 2019.
17. https://www.government.se/4ab455/content­ 19. Besides the assessments done by the ministry
assets/654bcc72d8f44da087386b4906043521/ itself, the policy has been assessed in annual
swedens-feminist-foreign-policy--exam- studies done by CONCORD (Sweden), a net-
ples-from-three-years-of-implementation.pdf work of Swedish and European civil society
Accessed 11 November 2019. organisations for global development (CON-
18. https://www.government.se/articles/2018/03/ CORD 2016 and 2017 and 2018) and a con-
examples-of-what-swedens-feminist-for- ference paper that pulls together opinions of
eign-policy-has-contributed-to/ Accessed other EU countries about the Policy (Rosén
11 November 2019. Sundström and Elgström 2018).

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 Sari Kouvo

factors discussed above: high-level support for the Feminist Foreign Policy and other national
the Policy, consultative and participatory pro- interests and policy areas. This will be done
cesses for developing the Action Plan, institu- through focusing on two examples. The first ex-
tional support through both expertise, training ample is a snapshot of an early attempt by Wall-
and operational guidance and a rather ‘smart’ ström to be braver in politics by standing up
balancing of upping existing commitments and for human rights and openly criticising Saudi
nudging the Policy into new areas. However, Arabia for its court decision to sentence Raif
it is important to stress that the UN and EU Badawi, a Saudi blogger, to ten years in prison
assessments made about the implementation of and 1,000 lashes for blogging about free speech.
international commitments to gender equality While this may not be an evident example of the
and to women, peace and security have high- Feminist Foreign Policy, it is an interesting ex-
lighted the continued gap between rhetoric and ample of a braver politics and the challenges of
reality in the implementation of these commit- such politics in the face of diplomatic relations
ments. Or, as noted in the UN Global Study and competing national interests.20
on 1325, progress in this area continues to be In 2012, Raif Badawi, a Saudi writer was ar-
‘measured in “firsts”, rather than as standard rested for blogging about freedom of speech in
practice’ (United Nations 2015). The fact that Saudi Arabia. A few years later, after a lengthy
gender equality work remained a struggle and legal process, he was convicted on several
that gender equality would not stay on the charges and sentenced to ten years in prison
agenda ‘without a fight’ was also highlighted and 1,000 lashes. The flogging was to be carried
in several of the interviews. The challenges are out over 20 weeks. The first 50 lashes were ad-
particularly prominent, as shall be shown in the ministered on 9 January 2015. There had been
section below, in situations where the Feminist a major international mobilisation for Badawi
Foreign Policy uncomfortably crosses over with ever since his arrest, and the news about his first
and sometimes conflicts with other interests and flogging resulted in considerable international
other policies. media attention and condemnation by human
rights organisations.21
3. Successes and Challenges for a Braver
Feminist Foreign Policy 20. It can also be noted that several of the inter-
viewees referred to the Badawi case as an illus-
‘It’s the Minister’s Policy. So, everybody’s
tration of the Feminist Foreign Policy, also as
doing gender’ (Anonymous 2017. Interview an attempt to revive the foreign policy legacy
with Swedish civil servant by the author, of Olof Palme, leader of the Social Democratic
10 May). Party 1969–1986, Swedish Prime Minister on
two occasions, who was assassinated in 1986.
‘Your question is, will “equality” survive Palme was also active on foreign policy issues,
this political backlash? Well, if we’ve built emphasising the opportunity of small nations
the house on sand – and we may have done (Sweden) to promote an independent foreign
policy based on solidarity and social justice.
so – it will easily fall’ (Anonymous 2017.
21. See, for example, https://www.raifbadawi.
Interview with Swedish official by author, org/, https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/05/09/
2 May). raif-badawi-just-latest-victim-saudi-arabi-
as-remorseless-assault-free-expression, https://
A Snapshot of a Braver Politics www.hrw.org/news/2015/01/10/saudi-ara-
bia-free-blogger-publicly-flogged, https://
This section focuses on the notion of a femi-
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2017/06/
nist foreign policy as a ‘braver’ policy and the saudi-arabia-release-blogger-raif-badawi-
crossroads – and occasional conflicts – between still-behind-bars-after-five-years/, http://

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A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy

Immediately after the first flogging of Bad- society mobilisation against Swedish defence
awi, Margot Wallström tweeted ‘Blogger Raif sector cooperation and weapons exports to
Badawi was flogged today in Saudi Arabia. what Frida Blom of Svenska Freds- and Skilje-
This cruel attempt to silence modern forms of domsnämnden (hereafter, Svenska Freds), one
expression has to be stopped’.22 Wallström also of Sweden’s oldest peace organisations, as long
publicly called Saudi Arabia a ‘dictatorship’ ago as 2005 called ‘one of the world’s worst dic-
and its punishments “medieval” (Crouch 2015). tatorships’ (Svenska Freds 2015). Re-extending
Wallström’s statements were not taken lightly the agreement after the diplomatic crisis and
by her Saudi Arabian counterparts, who called media storm following the Badawi incident
them ‘flagrant interference in internal affairs, became politically impossible for the Swedish
which is not accepted in international con- Government. Saudi Arabia reciprocated by
ventions’ (Crouch 2015). The diplomatic crisis recalling its Ambassador to Sweden and can-
between Sweden and Saudi Arabia escalated celling Swedish business visas to Saudi Arabia,
in February and March. Saudi Arabia blocked which again led to harsh criticism of the govern-
Wallström’s speech at a meeting of the Arab ment from the Swedish business community.
League, to which she had been invited as an After a series of crisis meetings, involving
honorary guest after Sweden had become the the government, the Swedish King and busi-
first country in the EU to recognise the state of ness leaders, Sweden sent a senior government
Palestine in October 2014. The majority of the envoy, Björn von Sydow, to Saudi Arabia.
Arab League countries also joined Saudi Arabia Von Sydow carried with him a letter from the
in condemning Sweden’s interference in Saudi Swedish King and the government. While von
internal politics and insulting Islam. Sydow’s mission was not officially to apologise,
At the time of the debacle, Saudi Arabia and his visit was framed as an apology. For exam-
Sweden were negotiating an extension of a dec- ple, the Saudi newspaper Arab News showed a
ade-long defence sector trade agreement. The picture from the visit with the Swedish envoy
defence agreement had been initially signed in bowing his head and the caption ‘Sweden says
2005 and extended in 2010, and involved Swe- Sorry’ (Arab News 2015). Wallström, however,
den agreeing, inter alia, to build a weapons fac- maintained that she had not apologised (Eriks-
tory in Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia agreeing son 2015). Von Sydow’s mission and the diplo­
to place a sizable defence sector contract with matic face-saving exercise for both countries
Saab, one of the leading Swedish defence sector – apology and non-apology – contributed to
companies.23 There had been considerable civil normalising diplomatic relations between the
two countries.
www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/06/sau- The diplomatic crisis between Sweden and
di-arabia-upholds-sentence-blogger-bad- Saudi Arabia is interesting as an example of the
awi-150607101956747.html, https://www. diplomatic consequences of a braver politics
theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jun/18/ that conflicts with rather than is done in coop-
raif-badawi-saudi-arabia-blogger All accessed
eration with bilateral partners.24 In speaking up
24 October 2017.
22. https://twitter.com/margotwallstrom/sta-
tus/553557951659933697?lang=en Accessed business elites, clear attempts to circumvent
24 October 2017. existing legislation to make the defence sector
23. In 2012, two Swedish investigative journalists contract with the Saudis possible. https://www.
received the Swedish journalism prize for their storajournalistpriset.se/ Accessed 19 June 2018.
reporting on the so-called Saudi Affair. The 24. The Foreign Minister’s overview of examples
investigation showed the close ties and shared of best practice and the Handbook for a Femi­
interests between the Swedish political and nist Foreign Policy include several bilateral

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 Sari Kouvo

for Badawi, Wallström stood up for if not a Femi­ on broader relations between the two countries
nist Foreign Policy then an integral part of it, and in a highly medialised way made ‘human
human rights. Wallström did not say anything rights’ a consideration for trade and defence
that many European and international leaders relations between the two countries. By doing
would not agree with: freedom of expression this, Wallström from her position as Minister,
and prohibition of torture are basic human put her weight behind ongoing questioning by
rights recognised in most regional and interna- Swedish civil society organisations and inves-
tional human rights treaties. Supporting human tigative journalists of whether Sweden should
rights in general is, of course, easier than one have defence contracts with a country known
government publicly criticising another govern- not to respect human rights and that continues
ment’s human rights record. It is not surpris- to systematically discriminate against women.26
ing then that the result was a diplomatic crisis Wallström did rock the boat, and nudged the
where arguments about national sovereignty, as Feminist Foreign Policy out of its terrain framed
well as culture and religion were evoked. How- by already existing Swedish and international
ever, the diplomatic crisis also illustrates the laws and policies. This may have had some ef-
challenge of pushing for a ‘braver’ politics in sit- fects for Badawi, as his subsequent floggings
uations where there are other pressing interests were delayed although he when this article was
at stake. Wallström’s criticism might have gone written continued to serve his prison sentence.
relatively unnoticed had it not become entan- It did have an effect on the Swedish and Saudi
gled with the already contentious extension of Arabia trade defence sector trade agreement, as
the defence contract between Sweden and Saudi it was not at the moment extended. It also, as
Arabia.25 That is, the criticism had a ripple effect shall be discussed in the next example, opened
up for broader debates about democracy, hu-
engagements that have had a positive effect. man rights and arms’ exports.
Engaging bilaterally is also a priority and key
method for the policy. The examples of en- Making War Safer for Women
gagement include working with men on is- The second example juxtaposes one of the key
sues of gender-based and sexual violence in
priorities of the Feminist Foreign Policy, con-
the Democratic Republic of Congo, support on
drafting legislation on gender-based violence flict prevention and in particular commitment
in Georgia, writing workshops to encourage to women, peace and security, with Swedish
increased representation of Indian women re- trade and defence interests and in particular
searchers on Wikipedia published in local lan- Swedish arms sales. It also deals with the lim-
guages, and working on projects focused on
its of this agenda, not the least in relation to
fatherhood in Thailand, Uganda and Switzer-
land. The Swedish development agency SIDA Swedish trade and defence interests.
has focused on women’s and girls’ human
rights and especially on integrating a gender
perspective in all its programming in recent
decades. This author was, for example, part of Sweden has not disclosed how it voted, except
an early external gender task force at SIDA in to say that it followed routine elections rather
the early 2000s. than political protocol. It is therefore unclear
25. As a side note, it can be added that a year later, if the Swedish vote was another way of saying
Saudi Arabia was elected to become one of the ‘Sweden is sorry’. https://www.facebook.com/
new members of the UN Commission on the margot.wallstrom/posts/1311753158873744
Status of Women. Sweden as a member of the Accessed 24 October 2017.
UN Economic and Social Council was one of 26. https://www.svenskafreds.se/upptack_tag/
the countries that was eligible to vote or abstain saudiarabien/page/2/ Accessed 14 November
from voting for Saudi Arabia’s membership. 2019.

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A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy

The choice of conflict resolution and women, Council’s knowledge by making sure women’s
peace and security as a priority was most likely advocates address the Security Council and
obvious as the Feminist Foreign Poli­cy coin- working with informal working groups to pro-
cided with several high-level initiatives aimed mote the implementation of the women, peace
at advancing and assessing the women, peace and security agenda in UN peacekeeping mis-
and security agenda and because of the Swed- sions. It is important to note that 2017 was the
ish membership of the UN Security Council in first year when all resolutions adopted by the
2017–2018. The priority area was broadly de- UN Security Council made some reference to
fined and included sub-priorities focused on the women’s representation and the integration of
promotion of the women, peace and security a gender perspective. In the EU, Sweden spear-
agenda in Sweden’s multilateral engagements headed the Member States’ efforts to ensure
through UNSC membership and in other inter- that the EU establish the position of the Senior
national and regional organisations and system- Advisor on Gender Equality and Women, Peace
atic attention given to women’s representation and Security and the first systematic assessment
and a gender equality perspective in early warn- of the inclusion of human rights and gender
ing and conflict analysis and in peace processes. into EU’ Common Security and Defence Poli­cy
The Foreign Service was also to work on includ- (CSDP). Sweden has also established a net-
ing a gender equality perspective in the area work for women peace mediators that together
of disarmament, non-proliferation and arms with other similar networks should work for
control (Action Plan 2015). This priority area women’s representation and the inclusion of
overlaps with and supports commitments that women’s concerns in peace processes.
Sweden has made in its Action Plan for Women, It is relevant to contrast the successes with
Peace and Security 2016–2020, as well as under Swedish arms exports.27 As noted earlier, the
international and regional treaties and policies. development of Swedish neutrality politics was
Sweden’s work in the area of conflict reso- closely linked to the development of a Swedish
lution and peace-building has therefore largely defence industry. The balancing between Swe-
focused on supporting and consolidating exist- den’s interest in a normative, democracy and
ing processes, at the same time as gender ana- human rights centred foreign policy and Swed-
lysis and attention to women’s representation ish defence sector contracting to countries like,
has been used to further develop and expand for example, Saudi Arabia has as was shown in
processes and issues. The Foreign Ministry’s the previous example, not always been smooth.
own reporting on examples of best practice in Not surprisingly, the Swedish Feminist Foreign
implementation of the Feminist Foreign Policy Policy has been rather cautious in making the
includes a long list of examples of successful connection between conflict prevention and mil-
implementation in the area of conflict resolution itarisation, although disarmament is part of the
and peace-building (Sweden’s Feminist Foreign Policy. Svenska Freds and other Swedish civil
Policy. Examples of Three Years of Implemen- society organisations have consistently sought
tation 2017), as does the recent Handbook on to make the connection between the Feminist
Feminist Foreign Policy (Handbook. Sweden’s Foreign Policy and Swedish weapons exports
Feminist Foreign Policy 2018). Several of the in-
terviewees also highlighted Sweden’s system-
atic work on women, peace and security as one 27. For a substantive overview of global weapons’
exports, see https://www.sipri.org/ Accessed
of the clear examples of success. Examples in-
7 September 2018. And for a discussion see
clude Sweden’s work in the UN Security Coun- https://www.svenskafreds.se Accessed 7 Sep-
cil that has included efforts to build the Security tember 2018.

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 Sari Kouvo

and to raise awareness of and lobby against a party since 2014, the report also highlighted
Swedish arms exports to non-democratic states, the obligation to take into account the risk of the
to conflict situations and to developing coun- exported arms being used to commit or facilitate
tries.28 serious acts of gender-based violence or serious
As noted above, the Swedish plans to build acts of violence against women and children
an arms factory in Saudi Arabia led to a me- (SOU 2015:72, 163).
dia storm. It subsequently also resulted in the The proposal was criticised by consulted
appointment of an inquiry into arms export bodies for failing to formulate an unconditional
controls with a view to investigating how ban on arms exports to states that seriously vi-
Sweden could tighten arms export controls olate human rights or to non-democratic states.
to non-democratic regimes (SOU 2015:72, 99). The consulted bodies, including Svenska Freds,
The basic rule set forth in the Swedish Military questioned whether a vague democracy crite-
Equipment Act has been that arms exports are rion would have any impact on arms exports in
prohibited unless specifically approved by the practice (Svenska Freds et al. 2015, 13–14). Af-
Inspectorate of Strategic Products (ISP). Exports ter several delays, the legislative amendments
can only be approved if in the interest of Swed- came into force on 15 April 2018 (Government
ish security and defence and if not in conflict Bill 2017/18:23, 2).29 While the legislative amend-
with Sweden’s foreign policy (Section 1). The ments were limited, a democracy criterion and
parliamentary committee presented the final a strengthened language on human rights was
report of its inquiry in 2015 and recommended included in the regulation governing weapons
the strengthening of a ‘democracy criterion’ in exports. The entry into force of the amendments
Sweden’s arms exports legislation, in order to creates an increasing urgency to ensure through
more clearly express a state’s democratic status political guidance, policies and capacity-build-
as being an important foreign policy factor in ing that the ISP can make the most of the new
the overall assessment of whether to authorise democracy criterion and strengthened human
arms exports (SOU 2015:72, 34). The report men- rights criterion. Much of this work remains to
tioned in particular that women’s and children’s be done.
rights were factors to take into account in the An interview conducted with Wallström af-
assessment of a state’s democratic status (SOU ter the entry into force of the amendments to the
2015:72, 354–355). Referring to the multilateral Military Equipment Act and related regulations
Arms Trade Treaty, to which Sweden has been exemplified the continued tensions between the
Feminist Foreign Policy and Sweden’s business
interests and arms trade. In mid-April 2018,
28. According to estimates by Svenska Freds, 17%
of Swedish arms exports over the past five Wallström was asked whether her Ministry
years have gone to non-democratic states, in- would use the reformed legislation to push for
cluding to Saudi Arabia, Thailand, the United more emphasis on women’s and human rights
Arab Emirates and Pakistan. In 2016, 51% of in decisions on arms exports, and whether it
Swedish arms exports went to countries in
could be used to prohibit Sweden’s recent ex-
conflict, including the United States, India and
Saudi Arabia. https://www.svenskafreds.se/ ports to the Philippines and the United Arab
vad-vi-gor/vapenexport/snabba-fakta-om-va- Emirates. She was reported saying that she did
penexport/ Accessed 8 June 2018. Similar ad-
vocacy and policy initiatives have been under-
taken by several other organisations, including 29. Government Bill. 2017/18:23 p. 2, http://www.
IKFF (WILPF Sweden), Diakonia, the Church regeringen.se/4aa7ef/contentassets/fb5a7177e-
of Sweden and the Swedish Fellowship of Re­ b9c4be2ac8ba998f32c67bd/Prop-2017-18-23.
conciliation (Kristna Fredsrörelsen). pdf Accessed 7 November 2017.

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A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy

not see what difference a Feminist Foreign Pol- This example shows that the policy has
icy would make to the decisions about weapons been successful in upping engagement on is-
exports and that one should not presume that sues where there are already policies or legal
all women are against weapons exports (Reu- frameworks focused on women’s rights and
terskiöld 2018, see also Jonsson 2018). Now, equality. That is, the Feminist Foreign Policy
there is no doubt that Wallström understood has contributed to turning policy into practice
the question, as the Foreign Ministry has been where policy already exists. The Feminist For-
consistently pushed by civil society and others eign Policy has also nudged its way slightly out-
to speak out on the conflict of norms between side the comfort zone of existing policies and
feminist foreign policy – focused on representa- thereby encroached on other policy spheres and
tion, respect (including human rights) and re- interests. This is not, as already shown in the ex-
sources – and the Swedish and global arms ample above, easy or always well received. Al-
trade. However, the interview also took place at though brief, both examples show the challenge
a time when Wallström was hosting the Stock- of attempting a braver feminist foreign policy
holm Gender Forum and the Indian Prime Min- and how such a policy will inevitably conflict
ister Narendra Modi was also visiting Sweden with other interests and priorities, nationally
with a view to further promoting trade and se- and internationally. This is of course also largely
curity cooperation between Sweden and India.30 the meaning of integration and/or mainstream-
The Gender Forum with the subtitle ‘Shaping ing. Integration of women’s rights and gender
New Realities’ drew together gender experts equality is often strategically framed as a win-
and activists from around the world to create win situation which demands framing women’s
new partnerships and document best practices. rights and gender equality issues are non-con-
Prime Minister Modi’s visit was the first bilat- frontational and beneficial for all (Kouvo 2004).
eral meeting with an Indian Prime Minister in This strategy may be costly, as it risks hiding
Sweden in 30 years and was focused mainly on conflicting interests and resistance.
building economic ties between India and Swe-
den.31 According to Svenska Freds, Saab, one of 4. Conclusions
Sweden’s leading weapons manufacturers, was
‘What will happen if the next government
hoping that the visit would also result in India
says “no”, we won’t continue the Feminist
choosing to make an order for 110 new fighter
Foreign Policy?’ (Anonymous 2017. Former
aircrafts worth close to ten billion euros.32
Swedish diplomat interviewed by author,
8 May).

30. http://genderequalworld.com/ Accessed ‘It is important to remember that very few

11 June 2018 and https://www.regeringen. countries are – or even want to be – where
se/pressmeddelanden/2018/04/statsminis- Sweden is when it comes to equality, so
tern-tar-emot-indiens-premiarminister/ Ac- when we promote these questions we need
cessed 11 June 2018.
to be subtle and ready to adapt’ (Anony-
31. https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/pm-modi-
in-sweden-live-updates-bilateral-summit- mous 2017. Former Swedish diplomat in-
round-table-on-agenda-1838482 Accessed terviewed by author, 8 May).
7 September 2018.
32. https://www.svenskafreds.se/upptack/va-
penexport/6-skal-till-att-inte-exportera-va-
pen-till-indien/ Accessed 11 June 2018. See
also https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti- ty-accord-that-may-open-for-jet-deal Accessed
cles/2018-04-17/sweden-india-work-on-securi- 7 September 2018.

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 Sari Kouvo

‘The policy has resulted in a cultural shift. issues, and that it would use a more systematic
We’ve gone from having one woman re- approach. The implementation of the policy has
sponsible for women’s issues at a depart- been ensured by the fact that the policy had
ment or embassy to Feminist Foreign Policy high-level support, it was the Minister’s policy.
being everybody’s issue. /…/ There is no However, it was also important for implemen-
turning back’ (Anonymous 2019. Swedish tation that the Action Plan for Feminist Foreign
civil servant interviewed by author, 12 No- Policy was developed through a participatory
vember). process: all departments and embassies were
asked to contribute to its development. The Ac-
In the introduction, this author noted that these tion Plan itself is a fairly short and neat docu-
are challenging times for launching a Feminist ment with perspectives and priority areas that
Foreign Policy. The policy needs to navigate provide clear direction for the policy implemen-
the changing meanings of the term feminism tation, and that can be adapted and updated
in theory, policy and practice; situate itself in on an annual basis. The Action Plan has been
relation to decades’ worth of successes, failures, continued for the 2019–2022 government term
and compromises relating to women’s rights with only a few changes.
and gender equality policies; tackle ongoing The fact that the policy was called ‘femi-
attacks on feminisms and even basic notions of nist’, had high-level support and that the Action
women’s rights and gender equality from pop- Plan and later Handbook are quite accessible
ulist and reactionary forces; and propose actual documents have most likely contributed to the
solutions to manifold global challenges. Taking international interest for the Swedish policy.
these challenges into account, this article aimed For example, EU Member State diplomats who
at situating the Swedish Feminist Foreign Pol- responded to a survey on Swedish Feminist For-
icy, analysing the policy’s notion of feminism eign Policy by Malena Rosén Sundstöm and Ole
and the content of the policy and problematis- Elgström considered that Sweden was a leader
ing the policy through two examples. in the struggle for women’s rights (Rosén Sund-
The article has shown that Feminist For- ström and Elgström 2018). Swedish Feminist
eign Policy was enabled by the long tradition Foreign Policy has also inspired similar poli-
of state-centred and law-based equality strate- cies beyond Europe. For example, the current
gies in the Nordic countries, but that the policy Canadian government’s Feminist International
itself – in its content – seems largely inspired by Assistance Policy adopted in 2017 is framed in
the liberal and individual rights-based equal- largely similar terms and has similar priorities
ity strategies developed in international poli- to the Swedish Policy.33 However, the Rosén
cies and law. This is also the frame that is very Sundström and Elgström study also showed
clearly given to the policy in the Action Plan that although EU Member States seemed to ad-
adopted in 2015: the policy takes its starting mire the policy choices made by Sweden, they
point in international human rights treaties, were not eager to adopt similar policies. Or, as
the women, peace and security resolutions and one of the interviewees noted, few countries
other established international legal and policy
frameworks. The term feminism is not used to
indicate a shift in Sweden’s current interna- 33. https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/
tional commitments for women’s rights and issues_development-enjeux_developpement/
priorities-priorites/policy-politique.aspx-
gender equality. Rather the term feminism is
?lang=eng (last visited 24 March 2020). For a
used to indicate that Sweden would increase discussion of the link between the Swedish and
its engagement on women’s rights and gender Canadian policies, see Fillion 2018.

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A Challenging Agenda for Troubled Times: The Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy

are or might even want to be where Sweden is existence of the resolutions have also, as has
when it comes to women’s rights and gender been shown in this article, served to frame the
equality (Anonymous 2017. Former Swedish Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy.
diplomat interviewed by author, 8 May). One of The successes of the resolutions have also
the reasons that other EU countries put forward involved sacrifices. Hilary Charlesworth argues
against adopting a feminist policy was that it that the women, peace and security agenda
would be constraining (Rosén Sundström and is based on a number of assumptions about
Elgström 2018). The examples used in this arti- women that may have helped smooth the way
cle also show that the Policy is not always easy for the acceptance of the resolutions, but are
to implement and that there will be resistance not necessarily helpful to the gender, peace and
and sometimes open conflicts when the Policy conflict agenda in the long-term. The assump-
encroaches on other interests or on other policy tions include that women are more peaceful
areas. This is not a problem. It is an inevitable than men, that women are more vulnerable than
component of a policy that wants to change men and that gender is mainly about women
what is seen as business as usual inside an in- (Charlesworth 2008). Catharine O’Rourke in
stitution and internationally. However, it is im- her analysis of the different meanings given
portant to reflect on how this relates to the work to women’s participation in the UNSCRs on
with the Policy within Swedish institutions and women, peace and security makes similar refer-
in international relations. Looking forward, les- ences to compromises. She argues that as there
sons from adopting and institutionalising the is little general agreement on what matters for
Women, Peace and Security agenda can be in- women in conflict, what the priorities are and
structive in analysing the strategic wins but also what the best strategies for change should be, a
challenges of Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy language of participation is used to iron out or
that has now entered its sixth year. hide the differences (O’Rourke 2014). In a simi-
The UN Security Council resolution lar vein, Dianne Otto has highlighted one of the
1325(2000) on women, peace and security and key challenges as ‘…how to continue to inject
all its follow-ups have been strategic wins for progressive politics into (originally) feminist
the international women’s movement (Gizelis ideas, once they have been turned to the service
and Olsson, eds. 2015). Felicity Ruby, Director of the international institutions that have em-
of the Women’s International League for Peace braced them’. (Otto 2008: 99). Ruby has argued
and Freedom (WILPF) at the time when the first that one of the areas where the resolutions have
UN Security Council resolution was adopted failed is to serve as conflict prevention tools:
has argued that the resolution and its follow-up The resolutions have become tools for making
resolutions have served as key tools, action wars safer for women, instead of being tools for
tools, education tools and shaming tools: That questioning the root causes of conflict, includ-
is, they have successfully been used to ‘force’ ing militarisation and military spending. She
women’s issues onto the international security notes in passing that ‘just six states export 74
agenda; they have inspired resulted in unpre­ per cent of the world’s weapons – United States,
cedented government and civil society action Russia, Germany, United Kingdom, China and
in this area; they have helped educate national France – and of these states, all but Germany
defence and military actors about women’s hold permanent seats on the Security Council”
and gender perspectives; and they have been (Ruby 2014, 178). A feminist agenda for women,
used to shame national and international ac- peace and security should then not only be
tors when they have failed – as many have – to about getting women’s and gender issues onto
consider women’s and gender perspectives. The the agenda at the UN Security Council, but also

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 Sari Kouvo

critically engaging with questions about how BUSS, D. and HERMANN, D. 2003. Globalizing
conceptions of international security and de- Family Values. The Christian Right in International
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and Minneapolis.
tion and the defence industry (Ruby 2014; Enloe
BUSS, D. and MANJI, A., eds. 2005. International
2013). The Feminist Foreign Policy is trying to
Law. Modern Feminist Approaches. Hart Publish-
do both, but as this article has tried to show, ing, Oregon.
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