Feminist Intersectionality Theory

(2013). HEALTH INEQUALITIES: PROMOTING POLICY CHANGES IN UTILIZING TRANSFORMATION DEVELOPMENT BY EMPOWERING AFRICAN AMERICAN COMMUNITIES IN REDUCING HEALTH DISPARITIES. Journal Of Cultural Diversity, 20(4), 155-162.

1.The theory/concept of intersectionality is a theory centered around oppression, domination and discrimination through various mediums from the social and cultural elements of society.

Something that I’ve learned from this course was the term “intersectionality” and how that plays into equity. While isolating an issue does help in understanding its roots, the next step we should be taking is to understand the interconnecting nature of social identities. This many help us to become a more equitable society. For example, when Chelsea facilitated the workshop where we touched upon intersectionality in the pay gap, we learned how both gender and racial identity can affect an individual’s wage. While white women earn $0.74 to a white man’s dollar, black women only make $0.64. Understanding intersectionality is vital to battling the interwoven prejudices people face in their daily lives such as bridging the pay gap between all

As a human being you are not bound nor placed into one single group or category. You yourself do not identify solely by gender or race. There are multiple aspects to you that make you who you are; it consists on how you see yourself and how the world perceives you. Intersectionality is the interwoven identities that make up who you are: race, class, gender, religion, sexual orientation, nationality, etc. They are interdependent and can be shaped by one’s own personal experiences. It also refers to “the various forms of oppression that are interrelated and cause intersections between systems of domination that result in unique practices of discrimination” (Brown, 4). As a woman, I myself also identify as being of Mexican heritage but of American nationality. I am in college and in the working class poor. I am a moderate conservative, Catholic, and straight. I am not one without the others, life’s experiences have made me who I am.

Crenshaw's Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color expands on the multifaceted struggles of women of color and the generalizations ingrained in society that limit women of color and keep them in a box. In this text, Crenshaw builds on the concept of intersectionality which proposes that social categorizations such as gender and race are intertwined and have great influence on one another. She explains how the lack of awareness about intersectionality skews the data behind studies on controversial

Woman who are targeted because of their skin color or because they are immigrants coming into a country like America, in hopes of finding better, attempt to prosper in a cold world that values dirt more than they value them. Excluding women from certain health care facilities because they hold a green card, neglects them from being allowed the same equal rights as any citizen in the United States would have, is what especially hits hard for me. While reading “Invisible Immigrants” by Michelle Chen in the Reproduction and Society book, I was made aware of the drastic measures some women are forced to take in order to accommodate their health but I was also able to open my eyes and see what my reality could have been like had I not become a United

In addition, organizers should not utilize a “monolithic” approach, which can cause those “who occupy multiple subordinate identities…to experience a secondary marginalization (Cohen 1999) in which their interests are not addressed” (3). This is most evident in the feminist movement, which basically advanced the rights of white, upper class women, but failed to help women who were poor, black or lower class. Therefore, it is important to recognize that in a large alliance, there will be sub-populations and power struggles; nevertheless, an organization should foster goals that are inclusive and equitable. Moreover, according to Cohen, society is basically a “pyramid structure…so 90 percent of the world's population is (a) potential ally, (and) therefore it’s very important to think in a coalitional way and look at how these things intersect” (5). It is also essential to recognize that “social identities are not fixed” and that science’s “reliance on the null hypothesis” can be misleading (8,9). Thus, the author urges psychologists and sociologists to “develop a more sophisticated and interdisciplinary understanding of historical and sociological aspects of the social construction of race, gender, class and other categories of identity, difference and disadvantage” (10). By employing this intersectional methodolgy, society will be able to broaden these coalitions and begin to address the most marginalized of

provides a view of a field that embraces the paradigm shift that focuses on the health and health care away from the white majority and towards the diverse experiences of racial and ethnic minorities. Of particular the author talks about the complexities of health disparities from preventing chronic conditions in minority population including both domestic and international perspectives. The author further refers to social policy and the role of race and ethnicity in health research, social factors contributing to mortality, longevity and life expectancy, quantitative and demographic analysis and access and utilization of health services. LaVeist’s intended audience is undergraduate and graduate student but a wider audience exists such as community

Intersectionality, was first introduced by Kimberle Crenshaw. The word had to do with the laws involvement on matters of judgement on sex, gender, and race. She mentions in her video “Kimberlé Crenshaw - On Intersectionality - keynote - WOW 2016”, how African American women along with other women of color, both have been victims of many forms of discrimination and the law does nothing about it. Below, you will read about how intersectionality is spread all throughout the book “The Beast of Times”.

In this week’s reading, I connected the Ms. Article “Abstinence Isn’t Enough,” and the Feminist Theory Reader, “Defining Black Feminist Thought” in which I observed different perspectives of different feminist injustice both arguing that such social issues cannot be define in a macro-perspective. Therefore, interpreting my knowledge on the different issues presented in both these articles. In “Abstinence Isn’t Enough,” they introduced the issue that in 2011 President Bush funded 1.3 billion dollars for sex education only. Then the article states that President Obama funded 178 million dollars towards teen pregnancy prevention programs. Now, while both actions seem reasonable, according to the article, President Obama’s action is more

Gloria Steinem rose to national fame as a feminist leader in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s for her work as a journalist, activist and political organizer. Her tireless efforts to lobby for social and economic equality allowed Gloria to emerge as an enduring symbol of female liberation. She advocates for intersectional feminism which examines the intersections where forms of oppression overlap and looks at the institutions and conditions hindering women from advancing as a whole. Gloria adapts her approach to issues as the social and political landscape transforms and she continues to promote an intersectional feminist agenda in a paradoxical world where many changes have occurred, but many issues remain.

What is the greatest issue facing women in America today? This is a difficult question to answer but it can be reasonably assumed that domestic violence is one of the strongest front runners. More than 4 million women experience domestic violence each year in the United States, meaning that 1 in 4 women will face this issue in their lifetimes (Safe Horizon). In the last largest study on domestic violence it was found that intimate partner violence made up 20% of all nonfatal violent crime committed against women in 2001 and accounted for 33% of all female murders (American Bar Association). Two thirds of females killed by firearms were killed by their intimate partners and this is three times higher than the total number of males murdered by

Elizabeth Cole offers a great definition, saying that “feminist and critical race theories offer the concept of intersectionality to describe analytic approaches that simultaneously consider the meaning and consequences of multiple categories of identity, difference, and disadvantage” (2009). While it creates a much more accurate picture of what is going on inside the individual, it is also very difficult to conceptualize. Take the example of a lesbian woman - how much of her oppression comes from being gay? How much from her gender? Are they happening at the same time? Maybe she is white, how does that identity change and interact with the other two? The theory of intersectionality tries to deal with this best it can by changing the way we think about people. No one is comprised of a single identity. In psychological research, findings that are said to be true in women are too broad because women have different experiences based on their other intersecting identities and situations. To truly understand something, it is necessary to understand how it operates in diverse groups that differ from the white female undergraduate. This is in direct opposition to what is known as white feminism. These are feminists that tend to focus on issues they can see and relate to. They tend to disregard other perspectives or activism that

According to the English Oxford Dictionary, intersectionality is the, “Interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage” (Oxford Dictionaries, n.d). Intersectionality is a way of acknowledging and comprehending that everyone’s identity has more than one attribute or social category; it’s how everyone experiences their own identity in their own unique way.

Monk (2011, pp. 113-114) observed that intersectionality has an ambiguity and somewhat confusing but it offers comprehensive tools for violence against women. Violence against women can specifically be analysed with intersectionality in the same context it actually executed (Monk, 2011, p. 106). In Pakistan degree of violence against women is different and depends on classes and rural/urban areas because rural areas has strong patriarchal structures than urban areas and women of upper and middle class has more control over their lives because of their efforts in education and employment and thus have lower percentage of violence (Ballantine, et al., 2017, pp. 2-5). For Pakistan this approach