Feminist Foreign Policy

What is Spain's Feminist Foreign Policy?

In 2021 Spain adopted a Feminist Foreign Policy in line with the leadership assumed by Spain at the highest level in recent years and the strong political commitment to advance in the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 5 on Gender Equality.

Spain has incorporated gender equality as a distinctive element of its foreign policy with the aim of intensifying efforts to close gender gaps and advance towards real and effective equality for women in the world.

The Feminist Foreign Policy Guide, presented by the President of the Government in March 2021, defines the main lines of action in this area, such as the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, including sexual and gender-based violence.

  The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, during the presentation of the Feminist Foreign Policy guide in Moncloa. Photo: Moncloa ​ 

What is the Feminist Foreign Policy Action Plan?

The Action Plan for Feminist Foreign Policy 2023-2024 aims to provide guidance and order the implementation of the Feminist Foreign Policy Roadmap within the framework of the External Action Strategy 2022-2024 through four axes of work:

The Feminist Foreign Agenda, aimed at tackling gender inequalities through feminist diplomacy deployed by Spain in the EU, multilateral, bilateral and international cooperation for development and humanitarian action.

Equality in the foreign service, which incorporates into the MAEUEC the measures of the 3rd Plan for Gender Equality in the General State Administration.

Coordination and harmonisation of actors, seeking to open up institutional and political spaces to improve the comprehensive nature of external action.

Accountability, which proposes the monitoring and evaluation of the Plan.

 Minister Albares meets with women from different areas of Spanish society to present the Feminist Foreign Policy. MAUC  

What is the New York Feminist Foreign Policy + Group?

The Feminist Foreign Policy Group (FFP+) is a cross-regional group of friends that brings together UN Member States that have declared a feminist foreign policy, and other Member States whose gender equality policies are aligned in the same direction. The Group seeks to promote feminist and gender-transformative approaches in multilateral forums. The group operates in New York in close cooperation with civil society.

The chairship of the group rotates on an annual basis. In 2024, Spain and Mexico assumed the co-chair.

The first high-level event on the margins of the UN High-Level Week took place in 2022. A year later, in the same framework, the Group organised the ministerial event “Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP) and Feminist Approaches to Foreign Policy as Accelerators of Positive Change by Transforming Commitments into Action" at which the first political declaration on Feminist Approaches in Foreign Policy was signed. The Declaration represents a milestone in that it lists six feminist actions to which the signatories commit. 

In 2024, again on the margins of the UN High-Level Week, the Group organised the ministerial event “Galvanising the Future Compact for a feminist implementation of the 2030 Agenda" whose outcomes included a political declaration renewing the FFP+ Group's commitment to feminist principles, with an emphasis on women's participation in decision-making and the elimination of gender-based violence, including technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

What are the Shaping Feminist Foreign Policy Summits? 

The Feminist Foreign Policy Summits are forums that facilitate the meeting of governments, civil society, United Nations agencies, academic institutions and the private sector, with the aim of addressing the challenges and opportunities for further progress in the implementation of feminist policies in the national and international spheres.

The first summit took place in Berlin, Germany, in 2022; the second in The Hague, the Netherlands, in 2023; and the third in Mexico City in 2024.

Representatives of governments committed to mainstreaming gender in the multilateral agenda signed a declaration at the 3rd Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy in Mexico City. This commitment is made concrete either through the adoption of respective Feminist Foreign Policies (FFPs) or through the strengthening of gender equality in their foreign policies. 

What is the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and how does Spain implement it?

The adoption of Resolution 1325 in 2000 was a historic achievement. For the first time, women appear not only as subjects of protection, but as protagonists of their own development, from pre-conflict to post-conflict, included a place at the negotiation tables. This resolution makes women visible as key elements in peacebuilding. 

The Women, Peace and Security Agenda has become a hallmark of Spanish foreign policy. Spain is one of the first ten countries to adopt a National Action Plan. Since the approval of the Security in November 2007, the commitment to this Agenda has remained a priority. Ten years later , the 2nd National Action Plan for Women, Peace and Security 2017-2023was adopted, with a series of new objectives:

1. Integrate a gender perspective in conflict prevention, management and resolution and peacebuilding.
2. Realise women's meaningful participation in decision-making processes in relation to conflict prevention, management and resolution.
3. Ensure protection and respect for the human rights of women and girls in conflict and post-conflict situations.
4. Effectively introduce a gender perspective in the definition of concrete measures for the reparation and recovery of victims. 

The Ministry has prepared, together with the Interministerial Group and the WPS Advisory Group, a follow-up report in 2022 and a final report on the 2nd NAP for WPS in 2024, with the aim of accounting for the most important measures adopted by Spain during the period of implementation of the 2nd NAP for WPS. Both have been presented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares Bueno, at the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Spanish Congress of Deputies.

The 3rd National Action Plan for Women, Peace and Security is currently being drafted. 

Isabel Oyarzábal Award​

In recognition of excellence in diplomacy and international relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation presents the Isabel Oyarzábal Award every year. This award honours Spain's first woman ambassador, Isabel Oyarzábal, a fighter for freedom and equality.

The Isabel Oyarzábal Award seeks to promote women's participation in decision-making spaces and to recognise their contribution to a Feminist Foreign Policy that transforms society.

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