Built on shaky ground: Reflections on Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy
| Published date | 01 September 2020 |
| Date | 01 September 2020 |
| Author | Jessica Cadesky |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702020953424 |
| Subject Matter | Scholarly Essay |
Scholarly Essay
Built on shaky ground:
Reflections on Canada’s
Feminist International
Assistance Policy
Jessica Cadesky
University of Ottawa
Abstract
In October 2017, Canada launched its Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP).
While Canada’s explicit use of the words “feminist” and “feminism” may be refreshing,
critical questions on the FIAP’s interpretation and application of these concepts remain.
These challenges are not unique to the FIAP. Rather, the central weaknesses of the FIAP can
be seen as symptomatic of several endemic challenges that persist in the current policies
and practices that seek to promote gender equality in the developing world and beyond.
This article presents the theoretical and conceptual lineage that has informed the FIAP,
drawing from challenges present within literature on security, gender equality, and gender
mainstreaming. Three main shortcomings relevant to both the literature and the FIAP are
explored: first, the assumptions and essentialization of “gender” to mean “women”;
second, the frequent conflation of “gender equality” with “women’s empowerment”; and
last, the paradox of gender, gender equality, and feminism being simultaneously over-
politicized and depoliticized to suit prevailing policy environments, with particular implica-
tions for the global coronavirus pandemic, as well as impacts in fragile and conflict-affected
states. This analysis sheds light on persistent challenges in feminist foreign policymaking and
offers insights for the development of Canada’s White Paper on feminist foreign policy.
Keywords
Feminist foreign assistance policy, gender equality, women, empowerment, discourse,
fragile and conflict-affected states, COVID-19
Corresponding author:
Jessica Cadesky, University of Ottawa, School of International Development and Global Studies, 120
University Private, Ottawa, Ontario, K1N 6N5, Canada.
Email: jcade082@uottawa.ca
International Journal
2020, Vol. 75(3) 298–312
!The Author(s) 2020
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DOI: 10.1177/0020702020953424
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