Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) and Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) want to consistently strengthen women’s rights in Germany’s political engagements abroad. “We want to make societies more just. And you can’t do without half of the potential, namely women, you have to think about them,” said Schulze on Wednesday in Berlin at a joint presentation of concepts for a feminist foreign and development policy.
Schulze said that if women could decide for themselves when to have children and with whom, it would mean that young girls could finish school. They were given a chance at a job to support themselves. “But rights also mean having the right to land. So most of the people who work the fields are women. If they don’t own the land, they don’t get any loans,” she said.
Baerbock described feminist foreign policy as a matter of course. This is “obviously not yet everywhere in the world – not even here – reality”. It runs through all areas of foreign policy action, from humanitarian aid to stabilization measures, peacekeeping missions and also in foreign culture and education policy. “It is also clear that feminism is not a magic wand,” said Baerbock. “We’re not naive. We won’t be able to solve all the world’s problems with a feminist foreign policy.”
