Foreign Secretary Alicia Bárcena announced the adoption of the Declaration on Feminist Foreign Policy for Latin America and the Caribbean on the sidelines of the VIII Summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC).
The initiative, co-sponsored by Chile and Colombia, and supported by Bolivia, Brazil, the Dominican Republic and Ecuador represents a milestone in promoting gender equality in the region. With this partnership, the adhering countries, which represent 70% of the region's population, will guide their foreign policy on the basis of gender equality, the participation of women and their leadership in the international arena, and the elimination of gender gaps and violence.
Mexico presented the Declaration, which reaffirms the commitment to promote the participation and leadership of women in the region. It commits to helping to reduce gender gaps and to promote the empowerment and economic autonomy of women in all their diversity, and seeks to address the root causes of inequality such as discrimination, violence and poverty at the regional level.
The Declaration stands out for its intersectoral approach, which takes into account the interconnection of different types of discrimination, such as gender, race, social class and sexual orientation. It seeks the active collaboration of international organizations and civil society to design specific measures to advance towards substantive equality in our countries.
By promoting the declaration, Mexico reaffirms its commitment to the empowerment and equality of women. The declaration moves issues such as achieving gender parity at all levels of government onto the international agenda.
Feminist foreign policy is an influential tool for building a more just and egalitarian world. It seeks to change the structures that perpetuate inequality, and to promote peace, security and economic development for all people. Mexico announced its adoption of a feminist foreign policy in January 2020, becoming the first country in the Global South to include a gender perspective in its national policies.
