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BIPR | Sweden's Feminist Foreign Policy
Sweden's Feminist Foreign Policy
December 7, 2020 - 18:30
Veronika Wand-Danielsson, Americas Department, Swedish Foreign Ministry
On Monday night, Ambassador Veronika Wand-Danielsson joined Professor Leigh and four SAIS students to talk about Sweden’s feminist foreign policy, share insights from her career in diplomacy, and discuss current policy issues Sweden faces.
Starting off the conversation, Ambassador Wand-Danielsson describes Sweden’s unique approach to foreign policy. As the first country ever to have a feminist government, Sweden’s feminist foreign policy is based on a philosophy of “3 Rs”: rights, representation, and resources. This approach pushes for legal improvements to safeguard women’s rights, prioritizes women as decision-makers who sit at the table, and ensures that resources are devoted to issues that affect women.
As she explains why Sweden came to pursue a feminist foreign policy, Ambassador Wand-Danielson elaborates on the important roles played by Sweden’s domestic history, its key politicians, and the needs of women around the world. Historically, Sweden’s swift transition from an agricultural society to an industrial one required high participation of women in the workforce, which also led to their participation in politics. On an individual level, the Ambassador highlights the initiative of the former Foreign Minister Margot Wallström who specifically pushed for a feminist foreign policy in 2014. More importantly, she underlines the pressing problems of women who make up half of the world’s population, which gives motivation to Sweden’s policies.
In response to student questions, the Ambassador reflects on her diplomatic career and the challenges she faced as a woman. Despite having positive experiences of equal opportunity in the Swedish Foreign Ministry, the Ambassador recounts instances from later in her career where she realized the elements she had taken for granted in Sweden. She mentions that many teams she worked in as part of international settings were heavily male dominated and that only a couple of women were in positions of leadership. Worse, she describes how sometimes there was a differentiated attitude towards female colleagues, where men were praised based on their expertise and women were simply complimented for bringing a female presence. The Ambassador reflects that, despite ongoing real problems, the times have changed and that many issues have been overcome. Moreover, she strongly encourages young women to pursue careers in diplomacy.
Ambassador Wand-Danielsson touches upon the current issues at the forefront of Sweden’s foreign policies as well. She emphasizes the cooperation with fellow countries who also follow feminist policies, such as Canada and Spain, and elaborates on Sweden’s deep relationships with Mexico where Sweden has been closely working with the country to address women’s issues. She also mentions that she is optimistic about potential collaborations with the United States in response to the climate crisis. Reflecting on Sweden’s high climate ambitions, Ambassador Wand-Danielsson underlines that big international agreements and increasing public awareness have truly made a difference globally and have catalyzed climate action at all levels of society.
In this talk, which will take the form of a dialogue with Professor Michael Leigh, Ambassador Wand-Danielsson will discuss the role of women in Sweden's foreign policy and share insights she gained as Sweden's ambassador to NATO, France and Monaco, and as a European Commission official. She will address the challenge posed by the French President's push for European "strategic autonomy" and about the scope for re-engaging with the United States under the Biden administration from a Swedish and EU perspective. There will be ample opportunity during the Q/A to exchange views on policy and career issues as well as the role of women in diplomacy.
VERONIKA WAND-DANIElSON
Veronika Wand-Danielsson was educated in Norway (Baccalaureate), Sweden (BSc at Uppsala University, 1984) and Paris (Certificat d'Etudes politiques at Institut de Sciences Politiques, 1985), complemented with PhD-studies at the department for Political Science at Stockholm University.
Mrs. Wand-Danielsson started her career as a Consultant at the OECD DAC Development Centre in Paris focussing on public aid flows to the SADCC-region. In 1990, she joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and became responsible for the Swedish international drugs control cooperation and financial assistance to the UN Drugs Control Programme.
In 1993 she was detached from the MFA to the European Commission in Brussels (DG Development), responsible for drugs control cooperation with the African, Caribbean and Pacific States (ACP). In 1998 she was appointed Information and Communication advisor to the Director General of DG Development.
In 2000, Mrs. Wand-Danielsson returned to the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She was appointed Minister-Counsellor at the Permanent Representation of Sweden to the EU, responsible for EU relations with the Western Balkans and chairing the Council working group for the Balkans (Coweb) during the Swedish EU-Presidency in 2001. In 2003 she was nominated Minister and Head of the External Relations Unit at the Representation. In 2004 she was appointed Head of the Swedish Task Force and Chief negotiator for the Financial Perspectives Negotiations (EU's long term budget) .
In 2007, Mrs. Wand-Danielsson was appointed Sweden's Ambassador and Head of Mission to NATO, a position she kept until 2014. During these years Sweden deepened its political relations and military cooperation with NATO and participated in NATO-led missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Libya.
From September 2014 until August 2020 Veronika Wand-Danielsson represented Sweden as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to France and Monaco. The historically strong bilateral relations between France and Sweden were during those years further strengthened through the adoption in 2017 of the first Strategic Partnership for Innovation and Green Solutions.
In September 2020 Ambassador Wand-Danielsson was nominated Head of the Americas Department at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs responsible for Sweden's relations with the countries in North-, Latin-America and the Caribbean.