In Paris on October 22–23 2025, more than forty countries, international organisations and feminist civil-society groups gathered at the Fourth Ministerial Conference on Feminist Foreign Policy , a landmark event hosted by the French government.
The conference focused on how foreign policy , traditionally shaped by defence, trade and strategic interests can be reframed around gender equality, women’s rights and inclusive diplomacy. France’s foreign-ministry briefing described the event as an opportunity to reassert our shared determination to defend and promote women’s rights and gender equality, and accept no regression.
High-level sessions addressed new frontiers: how trade agreements can safeguard women’s labour rights, how climate-change aid programmes can target female empowerment, and how migration policies must reflect women’s vulnerabilities and leadership roles.
For example, the Council of Europe presented initiatives on digital harm and technology-facilitated violence against women and girls , recognising that feminist foreign policy must also contend with the digital realm.
A key outcome was the joint declaration urging states to include measurable gender-equality targets in all international agreements and embed women’s leadership in diplomatic, development and security spheres. The emphasis on measurable action signals a shift: gender equality is no longer a side-agenda but central to how states engage globally.
France described its strategy for 2025-2030 as moving from “words to scaled-up ambition,” and this conference formed part of that shift. Observers say the challenge now lies in implementation , how to translate commitments into budgets, how to hold states accountable, and how to ensure grassroots actors and women in affected communities are included in setting foreign-policy priorities.
For women’s rights advocates, the Paris event is a welcome sign of changing global norms. Diplomacy, long seen as a domain of power politics and elite negotiation, is being reimagined through a lens of inclusion, justice and gendered analysis. Yet until the pledges made in Paris translate into concrete policy changes, programmes and institutional reform, feminist foreign policy will remain aspirational rather than operational.
