Most understand feminism as a movement that strides for political, economic, and social equality across gender lines. At its core, it is about dismantling oppression. Yet, everyone experiences oppression to a differing degree based on their social identities. To understand these differing forms of oppression and how they overlap, the idea of intersectionality must be added to feminism. But not too many people are familiar with what intersectional feminism is. Therefore, what precisely is intersectional feminism? Intersectionality describes the ways in which social identities overlap, and how those identities factor into experiences of oppression (Gordon 341). In altering the idea of feminism to accept intersectionality, the movement becomes …show more content…
Race is the clear motive why full-time black and Hispanic women are paid far less than white, full-time women and men. It has become widely known and publicized that when comparing the earnings of all full-time working women to full-time working men in the United States, white women make 78 cents for every dollar men earn. Black women are paid just 64 cents, while Hispanic women earn 56 cents for every dollar earned by white men (78 Cents Project). While women of all races are victims of wage discrimination and earn far less than their white male counterparts, not every race suffers equally. White women are often targeted for wage discrimination because of their gender; meanwhile, women in minorities face wage discrimination for both their gender and their minority status as well. This exemplifies that all women can be discriminated for having a common identity, women of minority will experience a far greater degree of oppression then white women due to their …show more content…
For women who can be identified as anything but white, the oppression lies between being both a women and an ethnic minority. In the case of Latin American women, intersectional feminism is used to combat the degrees of oppression Latina women face not just because of their gender, but due to their ethnic origin as well. Latin Americans generally retain their ethnic identities since they still have close ties to their homelands, which unfortunately contribute to the oppression Latinos endure, since they are portrayed as being more loyal to their homeland then the country they immigrated to. This is apparent in a December 2016 confrontation in Louisville, K.Y., where a woman was hurling racist remarks at two Latina women, stating, “Just go back to wherever the f--k you come from, lady,... Just because you come from another country, it don’t make you nobody!...Speak English. You're in America” (Edwards). The skirmish reflects how women of minority groups are oppressed to a higher degree than white women, due to their ethnicity. Most white women have families that immigrated generations ago at the peak of European immigration to the United States. By the virtue of time, the families of these white women assimilated into American society, and thus lack the ethnic connection that their ancestors had. Latina women, whose presence in the United
Doetsch-Kidder’s (2016) monograph defines the important role of intersectionality as a defining sea-change in the way that women of color began to unify across racial and cultural barriers. Interviews with minority activists define the perception of the diversification of feminist ideology through the lens of intersectionality. One interview with a African-American activist named Donna illustrates the unity between women of color that evolved in the 1970s: “But overall, we are all fighting for civil rights, so there has to be some type of overlap with each one” (Doetsch-Kidder, 2016, p.103). This development defines the “overlapping’ ideology of different feminist groups, which soon began to devolve the racial and cultural barriers not only between women of color, but also with white feminist groups. In Doetsch-Kidder’s (2016) point of view, the civil rights movement laid the foundation for intersectional feminist principles to be practiced for women seeking greater representation in the workplace.
Intersectionality exposes how conventional approaches to inequality, including feminist, civil rights, and liberal rights models, tend to: mistakenly rely on single-axis modes of analysis and redress;
Intersectionality is a framework that must be applied to all social justice work, a frame that recognizes the multiple aspects of identity that enrich our lives and experiences. This framework synthesizes and complicates oppressions and marginalization’s. In the article, “Why Intersectionality Can’t Wait” Kimberle Crenshaw talks about how the purpose of intersectionality has been lost. Intersectional somehow creates an environment of bullying and privilege checking. This society cannot afford to have movements that are not intersectional because all races need to be embraced and have equality.
In Kimberly Crenshaw’s “Mapping the Margins”, she states that there is little to no help for women of colour. Her research includes immigrant women in abusive marriages or relationships; because they are not citizens, and in many cases, immigrants are not recognized under U.S law. As well, these women fear losing everything if they speak up about their abuse. (P. 202). Political consequences of this failure to adequately address both attributes in an intersectional way means that
It is mandatory to understand the history behind Intersectionality and it’s upbringing to understand how it ties into cultural identity. Kimberlé Crenshaw’s classic article “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color” helps to understand the struggle that women of color face with entwined differences that are not confronted and dealt with accordingly. Crenshaw mentions that, “The problem with identity politics is not that it fails to transcend difference, as some critics charge, but rather the opposite -- that is frequently conflates or ignores infra group differences. In the context of violence against women, this elision of difference is problematic, fundamentally because the violence that many women experience is
The idea of intersectionality is that all of our identities overlap and are also constantly affecting our privileges and oppressions. People do not always think about their interactions despite them playing a pivotal role in our human experience. This is what causes some writers to feel the need to put them into words so that maybe more people will look at themselves and do some thinking about their own intersections. Some of the authors that I believe have done this well are Patricia Collins in her work titled Black Feminist Thought. Another work that discussed intersectionality well is titled “A Black Feminist Statement” which is powerful in the way it discusses how race interacts with womanhood. The final piece I feel as though needs discussed is Women, Race, and Class which is a piece written by Angela Davis that discusses the intersections that can be seen in
As many women struggled to retain their values and traditions, there were existing male dominated conceptions of race and white dominated conceptions of gender. Kimberle Crenshaw describes the concept of intersectionality where race and gender interact in various ways to shape multiple dimensions experiences for different groups
Theoretical Information: The theory of intersectionality is the idea that multiple aspects of an individual's social identity (race/ethnicity, class, legal status, gender, age, sexual identity, nationality, etc.) when intersecting can function to oppress an individual (Crenshaw 1989). III. Literature Review A. The literature on migration describes it as a gendered process whereby women’s initial decision to migrate is either influenced by or restricted by patriarchal factors.
An intersectional approach is an approach which seeks to demonstrate how race, class, gender and sexuality make certain experiences different. Intersectionality is the overlapping of social categories such as race, class, gender and sexuality that leads to further discrimination against a certain individual or group. To take an intersectional approach to understand race, class, gender and sexuality, is to consider hardships not as a similar element for all individuals without regards to race, but instead consider where in a specific hardship different races, genders, classes and sexualities are affected different. According to Crenshaw, “many of the experiences Black women face are not subsumed within the traditional boundaries of race or gender discrimination as these boundaries are currently understood, and that the intersection of racism and sexism factors into Black women’s lives in ways that cannot be captured wholly by looking at the woman race or gender dimensions of those experiences separately” (Crenshaw, 357). Crenshaw explains that the personal experiences of women of color cannot be fully understood by looking at race or gender discrimination as two separate factors, but in fact can be understood if both aspects are looked at together. When race and gender are examined separately, this causes for women of color to be “erased”. Crenshaw says, “ And so, when the practices expound identity as “woman” or “person of color” as an either/or proposition, they relegate
First and second wave feminism received heavy criticism from women of color and otherwise marginalized people for their exclusionary attitudes and practices. However, these marginalized women banded together to work towards the recognition of intersectionality. Understanding intersectionality, or the overlapping identities and oppressions that people experience, is central to understanding different experiences with oppression. Intersectional representation must be included in any discussion of socioeconomic status, identity, or community to develop a complete understanding of the complex issues at hand. One such issue in which second wave feminism clearly denied intersectionality was the discussion of socioeconomic class.
Kimberlé Crenshaw is an esteemed civil rights advocate and law professor. Crenshaw introduced the concept of “intersectionality” to the acclaimed feminist theory close to 30 years ago in a paper written for the University of Chicago Legal Forum, describing the “intersectional experience” as something “greater than the sum of racism and sexism. (Crenshaw)” She wrote in terms of intersectional feminism, which examines the overlapping systems of oppression and discrimination that women face, based not just on gender but on ethnicity, sexuality, economic background and a number of other axes. She speaks on it in a sense that the term intersectionality provides us with a way to see issue that arise from discrimination or disempowerment often being more complicated for people who are subjected to multiple forms of exclusion because of the protected clauses they may possess. Crenshaw speaks on the “urgency of intersectionality” in her Ted talk. This as well as her spreading awareness for the #SayHerName campaign drives a tie between the necessity for intersectionality advocaism and the the occurrences of neglect and violence present in societal happenings today. The question that stands in the forefront of her work is how can we effectively apply an intersectional methodology to analysis of violence and other acts against people who are often being neglected of any sort of recognition in social issues today? Intersectionality is one of the better known concepts within the
Intersectional feminism is a type of feminism that looks at not just gender, but different identities of a person, such as race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, economic status, and more. Instead of looking at people in single categories, it takes all of these into consideration, which stands for the rights of all women (Dastagir). By looking at global ethics through an intersectional feminist lens, we can recognize the prejudice that our society has on women of different backgrounds and overcome it.
Intersectionality according to Patricia Hill Collins is the “theory of the relationship between race, gender and class” (1990), also known as the “matrix of domination” (2000). This matrix shows that there is no one way to understand the complex nature of how gender, race and class inequalities within women’s lives can be separated; for they are intertwined within each other.
Feminism can be classified as a means of recognizing the universal oppression of women, and it ultimately aims for equality for both sexes. Intersectionality in feminism works to collaborate different aspects of discrimination in society such as class, race, and sexual orientation etc into an all encompassing idea. The objective of intersectionality is to shed light on everyone who is marginalized in society and disseminate the idea that women who identify with a variety of different groups, deserve to be heard. Cherrie Moraga, a writer, poet and activist who explores how gender, sexuality and race connect to a broader version of feminism, a clear example of intersectionality.
The theory of intersectionality has received a widespread of various distinct definitions and usage; it is often unclear of its designed function may be. Intersectionality is defined as “the acknowledgment that different forms of identity-based discrimination can combine to give rise to unique brands of injustice”(Lucas 8). In other words, how the classification of one’s individuality such as gender, race/ethnicity, sexual orientation, and class can intertwine with each other among the social structure. The term was first coined by feminist and civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw who spoke upon the discrimination and marginalization of black women and how both institutions interconnect with one another. The significance of