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. For instance, in the article, Why intersectionality can’t wait, the writer Kimberlé Crenshaw, talked about a group of black women who prosecuted General Motors for discrimination (Crenshaw, 2015). Crenshaw spoke about how …show more content…
But now that I understand the term I realized that I too, assumed that all women in America were concern with the pay wage gap between men and women. In most careers, women make much less money than men do for doing the same exact job. I thought all women prioritized this awful pay wage gap until I realized that I prioritize this unequal pay gap because I am a Caucasian female but, for instance, an African American woman may prioritize the injustices she may face while trying to get employed over the unequal pay gap. In the article, Study: anti-black hiring discrimination is as prevalent today as it was in 1989, German Lopez stated that, “The researchers found that anti-black racism in hiring is unchanged since at least 1989… The bottom line is whether you get a job in America can come down to your race” (Gomez, 2017). As a Caucasian woman I probably won’t have to worry discrimination when finding employment so I prioritize the pay wage gap. When I thought that all women should be concerned with the pay wage gap I did not acknowledge the injustices of minority women who may not be able to get a job or their job of choice due to their social
Research shows wage gaps are solely a product of the choices of the second party. Woman have chosen what level of education they wish to pursue, the fields they wish to be in, and where they work. When looking back at a censuses of the early-to-mid 1900’s the majority of working women worked at small enterprises rather than booming companies: large Firms pay at higher rates, their payout going predominantly to males of the working class (Rubenstien, Michael Harvey). When taken under the scope, large enterprises rejected woman workers, and if they did hire, the lady’s income would be significantly smaller. Consequently, companies would deny the reason being that they were of a different sex, and rather blame it on how little education the skill the person had, “Frequently, even when given raises, their new pay still comes short of that of their male coworkers.
So many people have had issues with this wage gap, people with different colored skin to what gender they are. There are women who will get paid 75% of what men get paid just because of their jobs or because people think that they should get paid less because they get stuck with the housework or they are taking care of the elders. To me that is ridiculous, women and men shouldn’t be getting paid the way people see them. Most people think that men have harder jobs and women get the easier jobs but, that isn’t always true.
Though there are more women in the work force now more than ever, they are still being paid less than men for doing the same job. Three explanations for the wage gap between men and women are discrimination, human capital and organizations of jobs. A group theorists who believe the wage gap is a result of discrimination are called bias theorists. Aulette and Wittner state that bias theorists believe that “decisions about who will be hired, promoted, fired and what an employee will be paid are made in ways discriminate against women” (189). Some discriminatory practices are openly represented while some are more subtle.
In the workforce, there are wage gaps amongst different races. African americans earn seventy-three percent as much as whites and hispanics earn sixty-nine percent as much (Patten 9). Although the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the State and Federal powers to exploit an employee based upon their race, religion, and gender, there is still discrimination in how much a person earns based upon their race and gender. Even though there is an equal employment opportunity agency that protects an individual’s civil rights in a workplace, there is still racial bias in salary
"Racial, Gender Wage Gaps Persist in U.S. despite Some" N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct. 2016 This quote shows that even though women are still being paid less as a whole it is the women with different ethnicities that have it the worst. Another quote similar to the one above also points out facts and statistics to prove that women of color are treated even worse than white women, “By 2013,
Racism is still prevalent in the country, and many people are being filled with racist biases without even knowing it. The media, religion, society, and other culprits have constructed a racist environment where people of color are victims of prejudice. When this intersects with sexism, women of color tend to face a multitude problems that the rest of the country does not, and it is not their fault at all. The gender wage gap is clearly a pressing issue.
Midterm Intersectionality: 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.
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. The theory can be applied in many ways toward women as well as their involvement in the criminal justice system. Some forms of discrimination that is more prevalent in perceiving the individual is using a woman's status, race, sexual orientation, ability and age, however there can be more added to this list. The wiki article said “The theory proposes that we should think of each element or trait of a person as inextricably linked with all of the other elements in order to fully understand one's identity.”
Shield (2008) states that intersectionality refers to the general notion that social identities serve as organizing features of social relations, and mutually constitute, reinforce, and naturalize one another. Dilworth-Anderson et al. (2012) propose that actions are needed when addressing health disparities and creating a socially just society, not simple talking about cultural competencies. The authors offer the following phases that may help. The first one is knowing and understanding the culture of a group; this entails taking the time and effort to immerse oneself in another’s culture or become more familiar, which equates to walking a mile in their shoes (Dilworth-Anderson et al.
Intersectionality is a feminist sociological theory that was first highlighted by Kimberle Crenshaw. It’s a methodology of studying the relationships among modalities of intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, and discrimination. The instructional approach is a scholar, which recognizes the importance among men and women rather than the differences between them. Feminist argued that sex, gender and race are known as intersecting oppressions.
The first order of business would be firstly to define ‘Intersectionality’ in order to gain a better understanding and grasp of the concept. ‘Intersectionality’ is a term that was first developed during the second wave of academic feminism during the 1970’s where women’s’ experience was at the forefront of Feminist thought according to Shields (2008). In 1989 Kimberle Crenshaw, an American Legal Scholar, did a study on ‘intersectionality’ in which she refers to an interaction between the different aspects of our ‘identities’ such as ‘gender’, ‘race’ and ‘class’. ‘Intersectionality’ as a concept aims to understand social inequality and systematic injustice by observing the ‘multiple categories of difference in individual lives, social practices, institutional arrangements, and cultural ideologies and the outcomes of these interactions in terms of power’ (Davis.2008). ‘Intersectionality’ has two major focal points which are identity and difference, and inequality and oppression.
Analysis of “The Gender Pay Gap Is a Myth” In the article “The Gender Pay Gap Is a Myth”, Steve Tobak expresses his opinion on the difference in pay between males and females. The gap in pay between men and women has been a reoccurring controversy through many decades. While some say that women are generally paid at a lower scale than men, there are others that believe that this is a myth. Published on May 3, 2013 by Fox Business, throughout this article the Tobak explains his reasoning as to why he believes that the gender pay gap is a myth.
In the 1970s, the wage gap decreased because “women’s progress in education and workforce participation” (Miller, 2018). However currently there is still a wage gap: for every dollar a man makes a woman makes eighty cents for same job – on average. What is being seen recently is that intersectionality plays a vital role in the wage gap as well; not only are women being paid less than men, but some races of women are being paid less than others. It was discovered that “among full-time workers in 2016, Hispanic or Latina, black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native (AIAN), and Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander (NHPI) women had lower median annual earnings compared with non-Hispanic white and Asian women” (Miller, 2018). It was also revealed that Asian women have the smallest wage gap when compared to men and that Hispanic women have the largest wage gap when compared to men.
Besides white women being paid less than men, more culturally diverse people are being paid even less than them. A USA today article on the gap says “The numbers were even worse for women of color, with black women earning 68% of what was paid to white men and Hispanic women’s pay amounting to just 62% of their white male peers, according to the IWPR.” click here for link. That is crazy considering segregation has ended, at least so we thought. Not only culturally diverse women, but all women are being paid less than men.
Intersectionality. According to Google, it’s official definition 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. Intersectionality was a word I first heard on Instagram. Amandla Steinberg was wishing her friend a happy birthday, and she said she couldn’t wait to hang out with her favourite intersectional feminist. I was confused; why was she an intersectional feminist and not just a regular one?