Envisioning 'Feminist Foreign Policy' and "South Asian Commons'- Ambassador Nirupama Rao

“A feminist foreign policy in our region would embrace the idea of a South Asian commons; it would speak and act in favour not of ravaging disunities, but of rationalising unities; of merging capacities to build, to develop, to link. It would weigh the interests of humanitarianism against the interests of power. It would feel the true pulse of the unknown, the marginalised, the excluded, understanding the economics of proximity rather than promoting proximity as a peril” - Ambassador Nirupama Rao

Nirupama Rao is a former Indian Foreign Service officer. She retired as Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, the senior most position in the Foreign Service, being the second woman to occupy the post (2009-2011). She was the first woman spokesperson (2001-02) of the Indian Foreign office. She served as India's first woman High Commissioner (Ambassador) to Sri Lanka (2004-06), People's Republic of China (2006-09) and the United States (2011-13). She has authored The Fractured Himalaya: India Tibet China, 1949 to 1962 published by Penguin India (2021). Ambassador Rao has been a Fellow at various institutions including the India-China Institute of The New School, New York (2016), Jawaharlal Nehru Fellow (2015-16), Practitioner-in-Residence at the Rockefeller Foundation's Bellagio Center, Italy, Public Policy Fellow at The Wilson Center, Washington D.C. (2017) and Pacific Leadership Fellow at the School of Global Politics and Strategy, University of California at San Diego (2019).

WISCOMP (Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace) is a pioneering South Asian research and training initiative that foregrounds leadership of women in peace and security and promotes cultures of pluralism and coexistence in the region.

The knowledge generated through research is disseminated by WISCOMP to civil society actors and educational institutions (schools, colleges and universities) through diverse methodologies that include training workshops, symposiums, roundtables, film festivals, installations, exhibitions, public lectures, curricular development and innovative pedagogy. Our channel offers some of these resources. To know more about WISCOMP’s work visit www.wiscomp.org or connect with us at [email protected] or +91-11-24648450.