when did intersectionality emerge

Why do we still need intersectionality?

We still have a lot of work to do to make the United States and its policies more inclusive. Intersectionality is an important tool in getting all women, regardless of their intersecting identities, equal pay and equal job opportunity. We must protect our trans women and trans women of color from the violence and discrimination that they face daily.

Who coined the concept of intersectionality?

“Intersectionality” was coined in 1989 by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a civil rights activist and legal scholar. In a paper for the University of Chicago Legal Forum, Crenshaw wrote that traditional feminist ideas and antiracist policies exclude black women because they face overlapping discrimination unique to them.

What is intersectionality really means for movements?

Intersectionality is a term used to describe how different factors of discrimination can meet at an intersection and can affect someone's life. Adding intersectionality to feminism is important to the movement because it allows the fight for gender equality to become inclusive. Using intersectionality allows us all to understand each other a ...

Is Intersectionality just another form of identity politics?

Intersectionality is not about “identity politics,” a term used to denigrate minorities’ contributions to activism, academia and other public discussions. Intersectionality is a framework used to...

Who coined the term "intersectionality"?

e. In 1989, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term "intersectionality" in a paper as a way to help explain the oppression of African-American women. Crenshaw's term is now at the forefront of national conversations about racial justice, identity politics, and policing—and over the years has helped shape legal discussions.

What is intersectionality in sociology?

Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes of discrimination and privilege. The term was conceptualized and coined by Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw in 1989. Intersectionality identifies multiple factors of advantage and disadvantage.

How does intersectionality affect women?

Political intersectionality highlights two conflicting systems in the political arena, which separates women and women of color into two subordinate groups. The experiences of women of color differ from those of white women and men of color due to their race and gender often intersecting. White women suffer from gender bias, and men of color suffer from racial bias; however, both of their experiences differ from that of women of color, because women of color experience both racial and gender bias. According to Crenshaw, a political failure of the antiracist and feminist discourses was the exclusion of the intersection of race and gender that places priority on the interest of "people of color" and "women", thus disregarding one while highlighting the other. Political engagement should reflect support of women of color; a prime example of the exclusion of women of color that shows the difference in the experiences of white women and women of color is the women's suffrage march.

What is intersectional analysis?

An intersectional analysis considers all the factors that apply to an individual in combination, rather than considering each factor in isolation. Intersectionality is an analytical framework for understanding how aspects of a person's social and political identities combine to create different modes ...

Why does Crenshaw use intersectionality?

In this study, Crenshaw uses intersectionality to display the multilayered oppressions that women who are victims of domestic violence face. Political intersectionality highlights two conflicting systems in the political arena, which separates women and women of color into two subordinate groups.

Why is intersectionality relative?

Intersectionality is relative because it displays how race, gender, and other components that operate as one to shape the experiences of others.

What is the definition of intersectionality?

Intersectionality is a qualitative analytic framework developed in the late 20th century that identifies how interlocking systems of power affect those who are most marginalized in society and takes these relationships into account when working to promote social and political egalitarianism.

When was the term "intersectionality" coined?

“Intersectionality” was coined in 1989 by Kimberlé Crenshaw, a civil rights activist and legal scholar.

What is the origin of the word "intersectionality"?

The origin of the term ‘intersectionality’. An “intersection,” we all know, is where two streets cross, or “intersect.”. We usually think of an “intersection” as a meeting of two roads, though the original Latin word “intersect” means “to cut asunder” or “divide into parts.”.

Can a journalist use intersectionality?

Any journalist tempted to use “intersectionality” without attempting to explain to an audience what those “intersections” are—and what the history of the term is—would be better served with another term, like the “overlap” of the issues at issue.

Is intersectionality a label?

The problem is that “intersectionality” become s a label, like “liberal” or “alt-right,” which can then be “weaponized” in the polarity wars. People don’t understand what it means, only that they are “for it” or “against it.”.

When was intersectionality first introduced?

The term intersectionality was first introduced in 1989 by critical race theorist Kimberlé Crenshaw, who provided a framework that must be applied to all situations women face, recognizing that all the aspects of identity enrich women's lived experiences and compound and complicate the various oppressions and marginalizations women face. It means that women cannot separate out numerous injustices because women experience them intersectionally.

Why is intersectionality important?

Intersectionality helps us to understand that while all women are subject to the wage gap, some women are affected even more harshly due to their race. Another instance where intersectionality applies is cases of LGBTQ murders - people of color and transgender people are more likely to be victims than cisgender people.

What issues divided early suffragettes?

Feminism and Intersectionality. The issues that divided early suffragettes still plague women today. For all the progress that has been made, women's rights activists have also taken steps backwards. Feminism, as a movement, has not done a good job at being inclusive of minorities. Women of color have been left on the peripheries ...

What is the first wave of feminism?

First wave feminism encompasses the nineteenth century and early twentieth century suffragettes who fought for the right to vote. Second wave feminism generally encapsulates the period from the 1960s to the 1990s.

What is intersectionality in gender studies?

Articulated by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw (1991), the concept of intersectionality identifies a mode of analysis integral to women, gender, sexuality studies. Within intersectional frameworks, race, class, gender, sexuality, age, ability, and other aspects of identity are considered mutually constitutive; that is, people experience these multiple aspects of identity simultaneously and the meanings of different aspects of identity are shaped by one another. In other words, notions of gender and the way a person’s gender is interpreted by others are always impacted by notions of race and the way that person’s race is interpreted. For example, a person is never received as just a woman, but how that person is racialized impacts how the person is received as a woman. So, notions of blackness, brownness, and whiteness always influence gendered experience, and there is no experience of gender that is outside of an experience of race. In addition to race, gendered experience is also shaped by age, sexuality, class, and ability; likewise, the experience of race is impacted by gender, age, class, sexuality, and ability.

What is intersectional analysis?

An intersectional analysis of identity is distinct from single-determinant identity models and additive models of identity. A single determinant model of identity presumes that one aspect of identity, say, gender, dictates one’s access to or disenfranchisement from power. An example of this idea is the concept of “global sisterhood,” or ...

What is additive model of identity?

In contrast to the single-determinant identity model, the additive model of identity simply adds together privileged and disadvantaged identities for a slightly more complex picture. For instance, a Black man may experience some advantages based on his gender, but has limited access to power based on his race. This kind of analysis is exemplified in how race and gender wage gaps are portrayed in statistical studies and popular news reports. Below, you can see a median wage gap table from the Institute for Women’s Policy Research compiled in 2009. In reading the table, it can be seen that the gender wage gap is such that in 2009, overall, women earned 77% of what men did in the US. The table breaks down the information further to show that earnings varied not only by gender but by race as well. Thus, Hispanic or Latino women earned only 52.9% of what white men did while white women made 75%. This is certainly more descriptive than a single gender wage gap figure or a single race wage gap figure. The table is useful at pointing to potential structural explanations that may make earnings differ between groups. For instance, looking at the chart, you may immediately wonder why these gaps exist; is it a general difference of education levels, occupations, regions of residence or skill levels between groups, or is it something else, such as discrimination in hiring and promotion? What it is not useful for is predicting people’s incomes by plugging in their gender plus their race, even though it may be our instinct to do so. Individual experiences differ vastly and for a variety of reasons; there are outliers in every group. Most importantly, even if this chart helps in understanding structural reasons why incomes differ, it doesn’t provide all the answers.

Is there a gendered experience outside of race?

So, notions of blackness, brownness, and whiteness always influence gendered experience, and there is no experience of gender that is outside of an experience of race. In addition to race, gendered experience is ...

Who coined the term intersectionality?

Before AAPF's 20th anniversary, Crenshaw reflects on where intersectionality is heading. Twenty-eight years ago, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” in a paper as a way to help explain the oppression of African-American women.

What is the most problematic about the contemporary conversation?

What’s most problematic about the contemporary conversation is the complete irrelevance of women of color. People talk about how constituencies, specifically working class white men, saw a terrible deterioration of their prospects and they were angry and wanted to vote for someone not part of the establishment.

Is intersectionality a grand theory?

Some people look to intersectionality as a grand theory of everything, but that’s not my intention. If someone is trying to think about how to explain to the courts why they should not dismiss a case made by black women, just because the employer did hire blacks who were men and women who were white, well, that's what the tool was designed to do. If it works, great. If it doesn’t work, it’s not like you have to use this concept.

What is intersectionality in social studies?

Intersectionality promotes an understanding of human beings as shaped by the interaction of different social locations (e.g., 'race'/ ethnicity, indigeneity, gender, class, sexuality, geography, age, disability/ability, migration. status, religion).

What are key ideas of intersectionality and policy?

What are key ideas of intersectionality & policy. - Human lives cannot be reduced to single characteristics. - Human experiences cannot be accurately understood by prioritizing any one single factor or constellation of factors.

Overview

Feminist thought

In 1989, Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality as a way to help explain the oppression of African-American women in her essay "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A black Feminist Critique of Anti-discrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics". Crenshaw's term is now at the forefront of national conversations about racial justice, identity politics, and policing—and over the years has helped shape legal discussions. In her wo…

Historical background

Forms: structural, political, representational

Key concepts

Practical applications

Criticism

See also