Intersectionality

Intersectionality refers to the way race, gender, class, sexuality, and other parts of who we are overlap and intersect with one another.

People from different backgrounds experience the world differently. Intersectionality helps explain how different parts of our identity come together to determine who has power in our society and who does not.

People are complex, and many factors contribute to our identities and experiences. We cannot only look at one part of our humanity– we have to look at the whole picture and all the factors that impact our identity and experience in society.

There are multiple forms of discrimination and oppression that prevent people from realizing equal opportunity in our society. It is important to recognize how various forms of discrimination, related to our identities and lived experiences, impact our lives and opportunities.

LET’S LOOK AT SOME EXAMPLES

The early feminist movement was intended to support women’s equality and liberation. However, the early movement almost exclusively supported white women’s equality, often at the expense of Black, Indigenous, and women of color. Although BIPOC women played an instrumental role in the suffragette movement, the 19th amendment only granted the right to vote to white women. Black and Indigenous women had to wait until the 1965 Voting Rights Act to legally vote across the nation.

Today, there is a greater recognition that feminism, and all social movements, should be intersectional to be effective. Intersectional feminism recognizes that that while all women face oppression, not all women face the same challenges in our society. Some women face greater injustices and oppression because of how their other identities – like race, class, or sexual orientation – intersect with their lived experiences as a woman.

All women face oppression. Not all women face the same challenges in our society.

Another place where intersectionality happens is in the area of gender and disability in health care. For example, Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has become a well-known disability in health care. However, there has actually been little research into this disability for women. This is because, for a long time, it was thought of as only a disease in males. Therefore, the symptoms and diagnosis of the disease were all written for males.

Since there is little research on ADHD for women, diagnosis doesn’t usually happen until they are older. That the lack of appropriate identification and treatment of ADHD in women is a significant public health concern, and results in a woman with ADHD feel unique oppression in health care.