Meetings of the Network of Women in Czech European, Foreign and Security Policy
Pavlína Janebová
/ Ed. 5. 3. 2021
AMO aims to strengthen the voice of female experts in the field which is closest and dearest to us – Czech Foreign, European and Security Policy. In the long-term, we are bothered by the big disproportion between a large number of competent women, who work in this field, and their inadequate representation in debates and higher positions in institutions dealing with creation and implementation of these policies. Therefore, along with Friedrich-Ebert Stiftung (FES), we initiated a formation of a Network uniting representatives from these institutions, but also academic sphere, think-tanks, as well as journalism.
AMO in cooperation with FES has so far organised eight meetings of experts since 2017. Six of them were in form of working breakfasts which thematically focused on a broad scale of topics from Security After Brexit to Feminist Foreign Policy. The goal of these meetings is to create space for expert discussion including specific women’s perspective and, at the same time, exchange experience and opinions about female representation in debates on (not only) foreign-political topics, but also challenges connected to building a professional career (in the field until recently considered a ‘male domain’) with foreign female experts.
In September 2017, we launched the project with a meeting about Czech European and security politics and the participation of women with a Member of the European Parliament Olga Sehnalová, Director for Equality and European Citizenship Irena Moozová and Deputy Director of Aspen Institute Germany Anna Kuchenbecker.
In October 2018, we discussed the impact of Brexit on the changes in coalitions in the European Union with the director of the office of European Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin Almut Möller.
In November 2018, we continued with security topics when we talked with Marie Mälksoo from the Brussels School of International Relations about how the EU and NATO can face hybrid threats.
In February 2019, we organised a meeting with Corinna Horst from the German Marshall Fund of the United States and the initiative Brussels Binder, aiming to strengthen the participation of women in expert debates. Corinna shared with the network members her experience with the process of building a database of female experts.
In November 2019, we had an opportunity to discuss the Swedish Feminist Foreign Policy, its principles and implementation, with the Ambassador of Sweden to the Czech Republic Viktoria Li.
The latest meeting was a breakfast with Rebecca Hersman from the Center for International and Strategic Studies, during which we concentrated on the control of weapons of mass destruction and the main challenges connected to this topic.
Apart from the expert breakfasts organised in 2019, we held two working meetings with the Network members about the future directions of the network.
Debates will continue next year when they will be tied to the creation of an online database of female experts on the Czech Foreign, European, and Security Policy. More information about this initiative can be found here.
