Womens Rights and Economic Change

No. 9, August 2004

facts&issues

Intersectionality: A Tool for

Gender and Economic Justice
Intersectionality is a tool for analysis, advocacy and policy
development that addresses multiple discriminations and helps us
understand how different sets of identities impact on access to rights
and opportunities. This primer explains what intersectionality is,
including its critical role in work for human rights and development,
and suggests some different ways in which gender equality advocates
can use it.
While the global economic integration of
recent decades has produced immense wealth
for some, these winners are a privileged few.
Embedded in colonial histories and
exacerbated by modern fundamentalist
ideologies, new technologies and
contemporary forms of discrimination, the
policies and processes of neoliberal
globalization are perpetuating racism,
intolerance and discrimination against
women. They are justifying the exclusion of
those who have been left behind by the global
economy and aggravating poverty, inequality
and human rights violations. Clearly,
globalization and economic change are
impacting on different people in different ways.

language, ancestry, sexual orientation,

religion, socio-economic class, ability, culture,
geographic location, and status as a migrant,
indigenous person, refugee, internally
displaced person, child, or a person living with
HIV/AIDS, in a conflict zone or under foreign
occupation, combine to determine ones social
location. Intersectionality is an analytical
tool for studying, understanding and
responding to the ways in which gender
intersects with other identities and how these
intersections contribute to unique
experiences of oppression and privilege. It is
therefore an indispensable methodology for
development and human rights work.

What is Intersectionality?
While all women are in some ways subject to
gender discrimination, other factors including
race and skin colour, caste, age, ethnicity,

Intersectionality is a feminist theory, a

methodology for research, and a

The Canadian experience shows that in the market for rental housing, single, black women may
have a particularly difficult time in finding apartments, especially if they are recipients of social
assistance and/or single parents. Many landlords buy into various stereotypes and believe them to
be less dependable tenants.
On the basis of sex alone, this discrimination would not be apparent. Similarly, if considering race
alone, this discrimination would not be evident. Using standard discrimination analysis, courts would
fail to see that there is discrimination against those who are single, black and female. It is the
singular identity of single-black-woman which is the subject of discrimination in the housing market.
This is intersectional discrimination.
1

Womens Rights and Economic Change

Intersectionality: A Tool for Gender and Economic Justice

springboard for a social justice action agenda. It starts

from the premise that people live multiple, layered
identities derived from social relations, history and the
operation of structures of power. People are members of
more than one community at the same time, and can
simultaneously experience oppression and privilege
(e.g. a woman may be a respected medical professional
yet suffer domestic violence in her home).
Intersectional analysis aims to reveal multiple
identities, exposing the different types of
discrimination and disadvantage that occur as a
consequence of the combination of identities. It aims to
address the manner in which racism, patriarchy, class
oppression and other systems of discrimination create
inequalities that structure the relative positions of
women. It takes account of historical, social and
political contexts and also recognizes unique individual
experiences resulting from the coming together of
different types of identity.
For example, the experience of a black woman in Cape
Town is qualitatively different than that of a white or
indigenous woman in that same location. Similarly, the
experience of being lesbian, old, disabled, poor,
Northern-based, and/or any number of other identities,
are unique and distinct identities and experiences.

Intersectional analysis posits that we should not

understand the combining of identities as additively
increasing ones burden but instead as producing
substantively distinct experiences. In other words, the aim
is not to show that one group is more victimized or
privileged than another, but to reveal meaningful
distinctions and similarities in order to overcome
discriminations and put the conditions in place for all
people to fully enjoy their human rights.
As a consequence of their multiple identities, some women
are pushed to the extreme margins and experience profound
discriminations while others benefit from more privileged
positions. Intersectional analysis helps us to visualize the
convergence of different types of discrimination as
points of intersection or overlap. Moreover, it helps us to
understand and assess the impact of these converging
identities on opportunities and access to rights, and to see
how policies, programs, services and laws that impact on
one aspect of our lives are inextricably linked to others.
For example, many female domestic workers experience
sexual assault and abuse at the hands of their employers.
It is the intersection of the workers identities (e.g. female,
poor, foreign citizen) that put her in the position of
vulnerability. It is the intersection of the policies,
programs and laws (e.g. employment policies, citizenship

Declaration, World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and related
Intolerance (2001)
69. We are convinced that racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance reveal themselves in
a differentiated manner for women and girls, and can be among the factors leading to a deterioration in their
living conditions, poverty, violence, multiple forms of discrimination, and the limitation or denial of their human
rights.
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, General Recommendation XXV Gender
Related Dimensions of Racial Discrimination (2000)
1. The Committee notes that racial discrimination does not always affect women and men equally or in the same
way. There are circumstances in which racial discrimination only or primarily affects women, or affects women
in a different way, or to a different degree than men. Such racial discrimination will often escape detection if
there is no explicit recognition or acknowledgement of the different life experiences of women and men, in areas
of both public and private life.

facts
& issues
laws, shelters for abused women) that support and
maintain the vulnerability. Because the policies do not
respond to the specific identities of domestic workers,
they do not allow the women to enjoy their right to be
free from violence.
As a theoretical paradigm, intersectionality allows us to
understand oppression, privilege and human rights
globally. It helps us to build arguments for substantive
equality from womens histories and community case
studies (that is, women writing/speaking from their
experiences of specific, intersecting identities) by
extracting theoretical statements and overarching
principles. This allows us to see that the claims women
are making for their equal rights are not merely an
instance of a self-interested group promoting its own
interests, but instead fundamental to achieving the
promise of human rights for all. Intersectionality,
therefore, is a tool for building a global culture of human
rights from the grassroots to the global level.
Intersectional analysis is characterized by an analytical
shift away from the dichotomous, binary thinking about
power that is so common. Too often our frameworks
conceptualize one persons rights as coming at the
expense of another persons; development becomes
about establishing and maintaining competitive advantage.
In contrast, thinking about development from the
perspective of intersectionality focuses attention on
specific contexts, distinct experiences and the qualitative
aspects of equality, discrimination and justice, permitting
us to simultaneously work on behalf of ourselves and
others. Just as there are no human rights without womens
rights, there are no human rights without indigenous
peoples rights, the rights of the disabled,
of people of colour, and of gays and lesbians, just to
name a few.
While intersectionality differs from some more
prominent gender and development and diversity
approaches, it is not new. As a formal theoretical

framework, intersectionality has been used for well over a

decade; it emerged out of attempts to understand
experiences of women of colour in the United States.
More recently it has been taken up by feminists in the
global South. As a fact of life, intersectionality has been
there all along, in the ways that we live, interact and
understand discrimination and equality. We are now,
however, more often discussing intersectionality explicitly
in the fields of development and human rights, using it as
a tool for advocacy, program planning, and research.

Why Intersectionality?
Most gender analysis frameworks used by development
actors focus solely on gender relations. While assertions
that women are not a homogenous group are common,
the implications of this observation seem to get quickly
lost in the application. The tendency is to merely note
that poor women are especially impacted and
racialized women have different experiences. As a
result, certain experiences and issues are obscured or
rendered invisible. Problems that are unique to particular
groups of women or disproportionately affect some
women may not receive appropriate or adequate redress.
Similarly, many legal approaches conceptualize each
component of discrimination based on multiple
grounds as compounding on the others, additively
increasing the overall burden of inequality. Such
approaches do not recognize that something unique is
produced at the intersection point of different types of
discrimination. Claims fall through the cracks when
the full context and quality of the experience of
discrimination are not considered.
We need tools such as intersectionality to counteract
these trends and lay bare the full complexity and
specificity of womens rights and development issues,
including the structural and dynamic dimensions of the
interplay of different policies and institutions.

Womens Rights and Economic Change

Intersectionality: A Tool for Gender and Economic Justice

Consider this
Trafficking of women and girls is often
viewed too narrowly. Women and girls
enter trafficking networks because of
racial, social and economic
marginalization which renders them
more vulnerable to racial, sexual and
descent-based discriminatory
treatment. Racial discrimination may
also determine the treatment that
trafficked women experience in
destination countries. Traffickers target
specific groups of women; gender
considerations alone do not accurately
describe the problem or lead to
effective responses. Sex workers in
Amsterdam, for example, have
organized and won many rights of
protection. In reality however, these
rights are primarily enjoyed by white,
native-Dutch sex workers.
Women are sometimes excluded from
jobs deemed more appropriate for
men because of their sex, and women
may be excluded from jobs considered
womens jobs because of their race.
As a result, women of ethnic minorities
are specifically excluded from
employment opportunities. They may
have few avenues to challenge this
discrimination because they could not
necessarily bring a claim on the basis
of either sex discrimination or racial
discrimination.
African-American women are
subjected to racial discrimination in
the U.S.A. A middle class AfricanAmerican university professor,
however, does not experience the
same discrimination as a poor
African-American woman who
works as a cleaner in a nonunionized hotel.
A young Dalit girl is assaulted at a bus
stop on her way to school in India. The
initial reaction is to demand that the

Furthermore, we need such a theoretical framework to identify practices that fit

into patterns of discrimination and distinguish these from things that are
idiosyncratic about the actor or community (e.g. as the opening example
shows, the challenges faced by single black women in finding housing result
from systematic discrimination by Canadian landlords).

it is not about making sure that every oppression is

named; it is actually about making sure every person is
accounted for.
Youmna Chlala, WILD for Human Rights

Intersectionality also has particular value in terms of overcoming historically

based conceptual gaps. For example, within the United Nations system, race
and gender-based discrimination have thus far been considered under
discrete mechanisms developed along separate but parallel tracks (i.e.
mechanisms of the Conventions on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial
Discrimination and all Forms of Discrimination Against Women). Similar
splits are evident in national-level mechanisms and NGO programming. Such
single category descriptions, however, do not reflect the reality that we all
have multiple identities and therefore may face intersectional
discrimination. An intersectional approach, in contrast, does not require a
person to slot themselves into a rigid category in order to seek redress.
Although many current laws and human rights conventions have been
interpreted narrowly to only capture a single form of discrimination at one
time, these interpretations contravene the explicit intentions of instruments
intended to protect against discrimination.1 Building a truly effective human
rights system requires addressing the shortcomings of past frameworks and
developing more contextualized interpretations of equality provisions.
Furthermore, the effectiveness of our work depends on analyses that can
capture complex, interwoven issues. If our baseline analysis and project
planning do not begin with a complete picture of the economic, social, political
and cultural situation, then our interventions and programs cannot possibly
achieve their full potential. Moreover, what works to advance the rights of
some women may not be effectual for more marginalized women. Intersectional
subordination is by its nature obscured; it occurs at the margins in complex
circumstances. If our analytical methodologies are categorical and top-down,
they are unlikely to discover the full-range of vulnerabilities, activities and
experiences of diverse women.

facts
& issues
Finally, intersectionality is a useful strategy for linking the grounds of
discrimination (e.g. race, gender, etc.) to the social, economic, political and legal
environment that contributes to discrimination and structures experiences of
oppression and privilege. The rich descriptions produced through intersectional
analyses illuminate the actors,
institutions,
policies and norms that
Why is it that for us,
intertwine to create a given situation.
gender is the only construct
Such textured analyses are critical to
that we can understand
our ability to effect progressive change
and accept in our work yet
in the face of the fundamentalist forces,
we expect everyone else to
incorporate gender into
neoliberal economic policies,
theirs?
militarization, new technologies,
entrenched patriarchy and colonialism,
Mallika Dutt, AWID Forum
and new imperialism that threaten
Reinventing Globalization
Guadalajara, Mexico, October 2002
womens rights and sustainable
development today.

How to 'do' Intersectionality

How we think determines what we do and how we do it. First and foremost, using
intersectionality in our work requires that we think differently about identity,
equality and power. It requires that we focus on points of intersection, complexity,
dynamic processes, and the structures that define our access to rights and
opportunities, rather than on defined categories or isolated issue areas.
Analytically, it requires that we see the eradication of discrimination and the
celebration of diversity as fundamental to development and the enjoyment of human
rights. It requires a substantial investment in the analytical stages of the work; the
intellectual demands of intersectional analysis are indeed higher than many other
approaches to gender.
Secondly, using intersectionality entails valuing a bottom-up approach to research,
analysis and planning. Information gathering should begin by asking questions about
how women and men actually live their lives. The picture can then be built upwards,
accounting for the various influences that shape womens lives. Specific inquiries need
to be made about the experiences of women living at the margins, the poorest of the
poor, and women suffering from different types of oppression.2 We need both personal
accounts and testimonies, and also data disaggregated according to race, sex, ethnicity,
caste, age, citizenship status and other identities. The analysis should aim to reveal
how practices and policies shape the lives of those impacted, as compared to the lives
of those not subject to similar influences.

police provide better security on the

road. Community consultations in
combination with statistical and
contextual analysis reveal that more
than a security issue, this is an issue of
discrimination against Dalit girls and
women. The range of remedies could
therefore range from reserved places in
schools and with employers for Dalit
women and girls, to public awareness
campaigns on the prohibition on
untouchability, public condemnation of
those who promote caste-based
violence, and official recognition of Dalit
women as a discriminated-against group
in need of special protection.
In circumstances where immigrants
constitute a large percentage of the
poor or where indigenous populations
have disproportionately high levels of
unemployment, the mainstream media,
policy makers and the general public
may accuse immigrants and indigenous
people of being less capable or
personally deficient. They disregard
the fact that social structures and
policies prevent them from accessing
rights and resources to the same extent
that others in the society can and that
they are discriminated against.
In designing programs for refugee camp
residents displaced by war, a gender
specific approach alone would never
suffice. We would want to understand
needs, vulnerabilities and priorities of
many identities for example, of the
young and old, persecuted ethnic
groups, families with multiple
dependents, and those who have
experienced personal or psychological
trauma. We would want to understand
how gender intersects with these other
identities to structure the experiences
of the residents of the camp in order to
design effective programs for them.
* These examples are adapted
from the sources listed at the
end of this publication.

Womens Rights and Economic Change

Intersectionality: A Tool for Gender and Economic Justice

So for example, an analysis of poverty would not stop at

finding that women are disproportionately poor in a given
region, but would explore which groups of women are
poorest, which policies and practices contribute to their
poverty, how the historical and political situation
contributes, and whether development projects and policy
initiatives are addressing the specific problems faced by
different groups of women.
An intersectional analysis tells us that it is not
enough to belong to a rich country that alone
does not protect you from vulnerability to HIV
infection, nor does it guarantee treatment.
Where you sit in relation to the State as a
woman, a poor woman, a black woman, an
educated woman, as a lesbian, as a woman with
a disability who is therefore assumed not to be
having sex, as an immigrant who is not entitled to
many of the social security benefits of citizens,
all of these factors determine your vulnerability to
HIV/AIDS.
Sisonke Msimang, AWID Forum Reinventing Globalization
Guadalajara, Mexico, October 2002

For an intersectional analysis to be useful in the field of

development, it must be informed by the experiences and
views of women of the full diversity of identities,
including women in the global South and also women of
colour and immigrant women in the global North. The
subjects of development work should be at the table
(not the foreign experts) and involved in developing the
analysis and the interventions. Similarly, the voices of
theorists and analysts from the global South need to be
amplified and respected.

Using Intersectionality to Advance

Womens Rights and Gender Equality
Eradicating poverty is not purely an economic struggle.
Likewise, ending human rights violations and bringing
about sustainable development requires ideological and

cultural shifts as much as technically sound

programming and stable financing. The complexity of
the challenges posed by trade liberalization,
deregulation, privatization, and intensified imperialism
demand analyses that simultaneously provide
detailed, nuanced information and inspire activism
and advocacy for equality and justice.
Intersectionality is one such tool.
As with all approaches and tools, the usefulness and
impact of intersectionality will depend on how it is
used. If institutionalized and simplified, its value
could be lost as has happened with many other
progressive gender analysis tools. Moreover, if the
analysis is misapplied, it could produce an ineffective
postmodern rubric of individuality. If used within a
social justice paradigm however, intersectionality can
be extremely useful and empowering.
How one uses intersectionality necessarily depends
upon ones positions, objectives and needs. Here are a
few possibilities:
In compiling data sets and statistics about the
impacts of economic policies on women, ask
specifically about the experiences of those from
different ethnic groups, migrants, poor women, and
women of other identified groups.

Today our challenge to ourselves and the

womens movement must be to render the
complexities of intersecting discriminations
plain enough to see and intervene in so that
marginalized women are included not only in
how we talk about effecting change but are
also involved as participants in the actions to
which we commit ourselves in future
directions of the womens movement.
Marsha Darling, AWID Forum Reinventing Globalization
Guadalajara, Mexico, October 2002

facts
& issues
When setting priorities for projects, allocate resources to those who
are most marginalized as revealed by analyzing intersecting
discriminations. Empowering those who have the least access to rights
and resources and focusing on processes that lead to poverty and
exclusion (e.g. by providing basic medical services and educational
opportunities, protecting their livelihood security, or supplying
appropriate agricultural technologies and inputs) may effect the greatest
tangible advances in terms of womens rights and gender equality. To do
this, start and carry on your work by asking these key questions:

The Association for Womens Rights in

Development is an international
membership organization connecting,
informing and mobilizing people and
organizations committed to achieving
gender equality, sustainable
development and womens human
rights. A dynamic network of women
and men, AWID members are

What forms of identity are critical organizing

principles for this community/region (beyond gender,
consider race, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, age,
caste, ability)?

researchers, academics, students,

Who are the most marginalized women, girls, men

and boys in the community and why?

of whom are located in the global South

What social and economic programs are available to

different groups in the community?

educators, activists, business people,

policy-makers, development
practitioners, funders and others, half
and Eastern Europe.
AWIDs goal is to cause policy,

Who does and does not have access or control over

productive resources and why?

institutional and individual change that

Which groups have the lowest and the highest levels

of public representation and why?

everywhere. Since 1982, AWID has

What laws, policies and organizational practices limit

opportunities of different groups?

debates on fundamental and

What opportunities facilitate the advancement of

different groups?

the individual and organizational

What initiatives would address the needs of the most

marginalized or discriminated groups in society?

will improve the lives of women and girls

been doing this by facilitating on-going
provocative issues as well as by building
capacities of those working for womens
empowerment.
215 Spadina Ave., Suite 150, Toronto,
ON, Canada, M5T 2C7

Endnotes:
K. Crenshaw, The Intersectionality of Race and Gender Discrimination, (unpublished,
November 2002), page 13. [An earlier version of this paper was presented as the background
paper for the Expert Group Meeting on Gender and Race discrimination held in Zagreb, Croatia
November 21-24, 2000].
2
Ibid., page 14.
3
J. Kerr, From Opposing to Proposing: Finding Proactive Global Strategies for Feminist
Futures in J. Kerr, E. Sprenger and A. Symington (eds.), The Future of Womens Rights:
Global Visions and Strategies (London: Zed Books), forthcoming in 2004.
1

T: +1 (416) 594-3773
F: +1 (416) 594-0330
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: www.awid.org
Written by: Alison Symington
Copy-edit: Carly Zwarenstein
Design: Lina Gomez

Advocate for multiple grounds of discrimination clauses in national constitutions and in United Nations treaty mechanisms in
order to open up space for courts and committees to fully address the unique discrimination faced by women living at the intersection
of several identities. Remedying the discrimination requires understanding its origins.
Respecting our diverse identities and privileges as women allows us to build our power as a movement based on our strengths
and diversity. This entails ensuring that women of all identities have a space and voice to determine our agendas. Similarly, it suggests
that we can use our privilege in strategic ways. Identity is a relative concept; at any given time we are operating from some position of
power, whether it is our experience, ability, class, race, age or sexuality. We can work towards holistic and powerful solutions from the
places were our relative privileges intersect.3
* My sincere appreciation to Marsha Darling, Youmna Chlala, Carol Barton and Tania Principe for sharing their insights and helping me
to develop these ideas.

Sources and Resources

Ontario Human Rights Commission, An Intersectional Approach to Discrimination: Addressing Multiple Grounds in Human Rights Claims,
Discussion Paper, Policy and Education Branch. (2001) [Available on-line: http://www.ohrc.on.ca/English/publications ]
Ching Louie, M. and L. Burnham. WEDGE: Womens Education in the Global Economy. Women of Color Resource Centre, 2000.
Crenshaw, Kimberley. Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, in The Public Nature
of Private Violence, M. Fineman and R. Mykitiuk (eds.), (Routledge: New York, 1994) pp. 93-118. [also available on-line at:
http:/www.hsph.harvard.edu/Organizations/healthnet/WoC/feminisms/crenshaw.html]
Gender and Development. Diversity, Vol. 12:1 (May 2004).
Gender and Racial Discrimination, Report of the Expert Group Meeting, 21-24 November 2000, Zagreb, Croatia.
[Available online at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/genrac/report.htm]
Human Rights for All: Understanding and Applying Intersectionality to Confront Globalization, Day 3 Plenary Presentations,
AWIDs 9th International Forum on Womens Rights in Development: Re-inventing Globalization. [Available online at:
http://www.awid.org/go.php?pg=forum9_plenaries]
Raj, Rita (ed.), in collaboration with Charlotte Bunch and Elmira Nazombe. Women at the Intersection: Indivisible Rights, Identities, and
Oppression. Centre for Womens Global Leadership, Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey, 2002. [video and study guide
also available.]
Riley, J. GAD and Intersectionality in the Region: Forging the Future, Working Paper No. 8 Gender and Development Dialogue.
Melbourne University Private Working Paper Series, August 2003.
WICEJ. How Women are Using the United Nations World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Intolerance
(WCAR) to Advance Womens Human Rights, Tools for Womens Advocacy #2. March 2003.
WILD for Human Rights, a San Francisco-based NGO, offers training and resources on processes for applying intersectional human rights
frameworks. Contact them at [email protected] or by telephone at (+1) (415) 355-4744 for more information.

Association for Womens Rights in Development

L'Association pour les droits de la femme et le dveloppement
Asociacin para los Derechos de la Mujer y el Desarrollo

http://www.awid.org

215 Spadina Avenue, Suite 150

Toronto, Ontario
CANADA, M5T 2C7
T: (+1) 416-594-3773
F: (+1) 416-594-0330
E: [email protected]