Intersectionality
Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how different aspects of a person’s identity - such as race, gender, sexuality, class, body-ability, age, and immigration status - combine to create unique experiences of privilege and oppression. It is a term coined in 1989 by scholar Kimberle Crenshaw, a feminist lawyer, initially to explain how Black women’s experiences of discrimination couldn’t be fully understood by looking at race and gender separately. In all, the term highlights that identities do not exist in isolation; for example, a queer immigrant woman with a disability may experience discrimination in ways that differ from a white cisgender woman or a queer man of colour, as her intersecting identities shape her experiences in complex ways. Intersectionality encourages us to address these overlapping inequalities to build more inclusive communities and policies.