student presentation

1. INTERSECTIONALITY:
MULTIPLE
INEQUALITIES IN SOCIAL
THEORY
Sylvia Walby
A presentation by Beth and
Will

4. Intersectionality refers to the
interconnectedness of social factors. For
example, it considers how certain
inequalities are relieved or worsened due
to their interaction with other factors.

5. EXAMPLES OF
‘INTERSECTIONALITY’
Are the particular forms of gender-based violence
against women at the intersection of gender
inequality, nation, ethnicity and religion (e.g. forced
marriage, female genital mutilation, trafficking and
‘honour’ crimes)?
Is the gender pay gap best addressed by paying
attention to its gender specific aspects, for example
through gender pay audits, or by focusing on class-
led mechanisms such as the minimum wage?

6. WHY IS INTERSECTIONALITY
SOMETIMES IGNORED?
‘Contemporary feminist and anti-racist discourses have
failed to consider intersectional identities such as women of
colour’ (Crenshaw, 1991: 1243)
‘Women of colour can be erased by the strategic silences of
anti-racism and feminism’ (Crenshaw, 1991: 1253).
This is because this may lead to the assumption that
gender inequalities are an issue of the minority.
E.g – domestic violence occurs more frequently amongst
coloured women, if this message was portrayed, it may lead
to the view that it is only a minority issue.
Another reason why it is ignored is the complexity of
studying intersections between different social groups

7. SIX DILEMMAS IN STUDYING THE
INTERSECTIONS- How to address the relationship between structural and political
intersectionality without reducing political projects to social structures.
- How to conceptualize the intersections so that bringing the agency of
the disadvantaged into focus does not leave the actions of the powerful
out of sight
- How to balance the stability and fluidity of inequalities so they are
sufficiently stable as to be available for empirical analysis, while
recognizing that they change
- How to neither leave class out of focus nor to treat it as of
overwhelming importance
- How to bring into focus the projects of small minorities, while not
making the normative assumption that all projects are equally
important.
- How to simultaneously identify the intersecting inequalities while
recognising that their intersection changes what they are

8. Video