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Intersectionality and Education: The Case of Aliya | 
Black Inclusion Association

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Intersectionality and Education: The Case of Aliya | 
Black Inclusion Association

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Intersectionality and Education: The Case of Aliya

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Intersectionality Re-Rooted | Episode 5 | Collected

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Intersectionality Re-Rooted | Episode 5 | Collected

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Kimberle Crenshaw on Intersectionality |  The Big Idea

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Kimberle Crenshaw on Intersectionality |  The Big Idea

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Kimberle Crenshaw on Intersectionality |  The Big Idea

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Kimberlé Crenshaw, “Race, Gender, Inequality and Intersectionality”

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Kimberlé Crenshaw, “Race, Gender, Inequality and Intersectionality”

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"Race Today: A Symposium on Race in America" brought a group of the nation's most respected intellectuals on race, racial theory and racial inequality together to consider the troubling state of black life in America today. What are the broader structural factors that shape race today? How do these factors work on the ground and institutionally and what are the consequences? What are the ideas about race, and racial identities that enable the normalcy of stark racial differences today? In particular, what role do key ideas such as "colorblindness" and "post race" play in shaping perception and outcomes? What can be done to challenge ideological and structural impediments to a racially egalitarian society?

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Kimberlé Crenshaw, "Race, Gender, Inequality and Intersectionality"

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"Race Today: A Symposium on Race in America" brought a group of the nation's most respected intellectuals on race, racial theory and racial inequality together to consider the troubling state of black life in America today. What are the broader structural factors that shape race today?

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Intersectionality: how gender interacts with other social identities to shape bias

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Intersectionality: how gender interacts with other social identities to shape bias

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Actress Patricia Arquette's comments at the 2015 Oscars award night drew criticism for implicitly framing gender equality as an issue for straight white women. She insisted that, "It's time for all the women in America and all the men that love women and all the gay people and all the people of color that we've all fought for to fight for us now."

Among other concerns, critics argued she overlooked the unique challenges faced by queer women, women of color and other women at the intersection of multiple minority groups. This sentiment reflects a growing movement within feminist circles to understand how people simultaneously face bias along multiple identity dimensions such as gender, race, and sexual orientation - an idea called intersectionality.

Social psychologists have recently joined in this movement, but have also reframed the discussion. The politics on intersectionality can "resemble a score-keeping contest between battle-weary warriors," argued social psychologists Valerie Purdie-Vaughns and Richard Eibach in an influential 2008 review article. "The warriors display ever deeper and more gruesome battle scars in a game of one-upmanship."

Setting aside these "oppression Olympics," intersectionality is a fertile area for scientific research, argued Rutgers University psychologist Diana Sanchez at the Society for Personality and Social Psychology ( SPSP) conference last week. At this academic gathering, intersectionality was a major topic at a daylong session about gender.

Here are three lines of research illustrating how gender interacts with other social identities to shape bias in often surprising ways. People of multiple minority groups face both distinct advantages and disadvantages. Biases based on gender and race do not always simply pile up to create double disadvantages, for instance.

Women are often viewed negatively for exhibiting traditionally masculine behavior. Assertive female leaders are disliked, while assertive male leaders gain respect, for instance. However, could this distaste for assertive female leaders vary by race?

Unlike white women, black women are often stereotyped as being assertive, confident and not feminine. These masculine traits are not only expected for black women but also allowed, at least in leadership roles, according to research presented at the SPSP conference.

Robert Livingston, lecturer of public policy at Harvard University, presented an experiment about how 84 nonblack participants responded to a corporate executive described as either "tough, determined" or "caring, committed." The race and gender of the fictitious leader were also varied across conditions.

Both white female and black male leaders were rated more negatively when described as tough rather than caring. In contrast, black women faced no such penalty for behaving assertively and were instead rated similarly to white men. Livingston concluded black women "were able to show dominance, assertiveness, agency without the same penalty that either white women or black men suffered."

He suggested that white women get knocked for being "tough, determined" because they are expected to be warm and caring. Black men are penalized because they are feared by others and activate other stereotypes such as being dangerous. In contrast, black women are expected to be assertive and confident, unlike white women, and they're not feared in the same way as black men, Livingston suggested.

Livingston, however, emphasized that these evaluations are complex and likely depend on context. In a follow-up experiment led by Duke University associate professor of management and organizations Ashleigh Rosette, black female leaders were evaluated especially harshly if their corporation had performed poorly during the past five months. Under those conditions, black women were rated more negatively than white women or black men for the exact same business scenario.

If you are a black woman, you can be an assertive leader as long as you don't make any mistakes, Livingston argued. "But the first time you make a mistake, your competence is called into question well before the white woman or the black man."

Individuals of multiple minority groups may be overlooked and marginalized for not being prototypical of their respective groups, argued Rebecca Mohr, doctoral psychology student at Columbia University. For instance, white women are seen as prototypical of "women." Black men are seen as prototypical of "black people." But black women are seen as neither prototypical of "black people" nor "women," Mohr argued based on prior research.

Racial minority women can therefore be rendered metaphorically invisible. Along with Columbia Associate Professor of Psychology Valerie Purdie-Vaughns, Mohr tested whether racial minority women are featured in mass media less frequently than more prototypical others.

In a currently unpublished study, the researchers analyzed covers of Time magazine published from 1980 to 2008. They chose Time because it's one of the longest-running U.S. publications and is published weekly, offering a large archive of covers. It's also a general interest magazine, meaning that people on the covers should presumably "appeal to a wide swath of Americans," Mohr pointed out.

Time

The study found that racial minority women were underrepresented when racial minorities were on the cover of Time. For instance, women were only 20 percent of the covers that featured racial minorities. Conversely, when women were on the cover, racial minority women were underrepresented relative to their share of the U.S. population.

Mohr suggested that these results reflect the broader invisibility of racial minority women in American society. For instance, even though three black queer women started the Black Lives Matter movement, most media attention has focused on black men killed by police. In contrast, black women killed by police such as Meagan Hockaday, Tanisha Anderson and Rekia Boyd are invisible, critics argue.

Gender gaps in pursing natural science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields surprisingly sometimes vary by race, noted Laurie O'Brien, associate professor of psychology at Tulane University. Women of color in STEM may sometimes face " double jeopardy" because of both racial bias and gender bias in some contexts such as gaining influence over others in academic departments.

However, "double jeopardy" is not the full story, O'Brien argued in her SPSP talk. For instance, when entering college, black women are more likely than white women to intend to major in STEM. Her research shows that black women hold weaker gender-STEM stereotypes than white women, helping explain that difference.

O'Brien also pointed to research by psychologists Monica Biernat and Amanda Sesko about bias favoring male computer engineers. This bias was found only when undergraduates evaluated fictitious white, but not black, employees. Black women were instead evaluated similarly compared to white men.

In one large nationally representative experiment, gender bias in STEM even reversed by race and ethnicity. STEM faculty responded less often to emails from white female than white male prospective graduate students. However, STEM faculty consistently responded more often to Hispanic women than Hispanic men.

O'Brien emphasized these data are complex. For instance, even though black women start out in college more interested in STEM than white women, black women may face unique barriers such as race-based stereotypes to completing college with a STEM degree. In her current research, O'Brien studies how the effects of interventions to bring girls into STEM may vary by race.

This research on intersectionality challenges the simple narrative that prejudices such as sexism and racism always combine to create "double jeopardy." For instance, racial minority women can be rendered "invisible." But this invisibility may also protect them in some cases by making them less prototypical targets of common forms of bias.

This research is still in its early stages. For instance, more studies are needed to test how evaluations of black female leaders found in small laboratory experiments generalize to real world settings. Attendees at the SPSP conference also emphasized the need to develop theoretical frameworks that can help explain the nuanced results. The emerging data show that gender can interact with other social identities to shape perceptions and evaluations in complex and often surprising ways.

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Intersectionality: how gender interacts with other social identities to shape bias

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Actress Patricia Arquette's comments at the 2015 Oscars award night drew criticism for implicitly framing gender equality as an issue for straight white women. She insisted that, "It's time for all the women in America and all the men that love women and all the gay people and all the people of color that we've all fought for to fight for us now."

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Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how the intersections of different aspects of identity create unique experiences of discrimination and marginalization. Kimberlé Crenshaw first conceptualized the theory of intersectionality in her 1989 paper "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics." Intersectionality unites ideas from critical race theory and feminist theory to center the unique social identity of individuals who experience the effects of interlocking systems of oppression. Specifically, Dr. Crenshaw was naming the reality that Black women face a unique kind of discrimination in a society that is both racist and misogynist. Intersectionality as a concept can be extended and applied to all intersecting identities and experiences of discrimination and oppression, making it a crucial theory of inclusive social justice. Every person has intersecting social identities that place them in a unique position in society depending on the social structures of power. Intersectionality in practice is about seeing students as complex human individuals living within a society of intersecting structures of oppression.
Resources
Teaching about intersectionality must include conversations of identity and oppression. Approaching the subjects of identity and oppression can seem difficult, but an intersectional approach to education simply makes explicit those social structures and systems of oppression that are always present in and out of the classroom. To best educate future civic leaders on the social identities that influence our lived experiences, teachers must approach this topic with integrity and compassion. Demarginalizing the countless intersections of structural oppression is a crucial step towards dismantling those systems of oppression and empowering individuals with intersectional marginalized identities.
Lesson Plans

1. Toolkit for "Teaching at the Intersections": This toolkit from Teaching Tolerance provides resources, essential questions, and readings for teaching intersectionality and practicing anti-bias education. These resources focus on building student understanding of identity and oppression, the two essential conceptual elements of intersectionality. This toolkit includes examples of essential questions, literature, and discussions about intersectionality, identity, and justice for each age group from grades K-12.

2. Understanding Intersectionality: This inclusive lesson plan from PBS is an excellent resource for approaching the topic of intersectionality with students. This resource provides material accessible for students from middle school to college. The lesson plan includes additional strategies for including ELL learners and a link to the same lesson plan in Spanish. This lesson is part of a larger collection and can be utilized separately as an introduction to intersectionality as a social concept.

3. Social Identity Wheel: This lesson plan centers on students personal and social identities, taking an interactive approach to learning about intersectionality. The site includes further resources to facilitate classroom discussion and links to other relevant lesson plans and activities. This link also includes a video demonstration of how to utilize the social identity wheel in context of other activities regarding identity and society.

4. La Mission Movie Discussion Lesson: This lesson based around the movie La Mission provides a substantial and engaging plan of learning about intersectionality centering on the identity realms of sexual orientation, race, and culture. This approach to educating about intersectionality allows students to relate to a story and empathize with a character who faces unique struggles as a gay Latino man. The discussion questions are excellent bases for conversation

Articles

1. Teaching at the Intersections: This article from Teaching Tolerance about practical intersectionality is an excellent resource for educators. The article includes a case study of an empathetic and intersectional approach to students, a breakdown of how power, privilege, and oppression shows up in the classroom, a video on Intersectionality 101, and resources for effectively teaching and intersectionality within the classroom.

2. Intersectionality 101: This article from the Institute for Intersectionality Research & Policy provides a comprehensive explanation of intersectionality. This is a great resource for educators who want to understand the key elements and unique characteristics of intersectionality as a social theory. The key message of this article is to show how intersectionality can fundamentally alter the way social problems are experienced and change the conceptualization of social justice to be inclusive of all lived experiences.

3. What's Intersectionality? Let These Scholars Explain the Theory and Its History: This article from Time Magazine honors the legacies of many intersectional feminist scholars by discussing the history and theory of intersectioanlity. Specifically, this article highlights the 28 scholar-activists of the Feminist Freedom Warriors Project and features the voices of Angela Y. Davis, Linda Carty, and Chandra Talpade Mohanty. This article offers an excellent explanation of the history of feminism, the development of the concept of intersectional feminism, and the theory of intersectionality.

4. What Is Intersectionality and Why Is It Important?: This academic article from the American Association of University Professors gives a detailed description of intersectionality and an overview of many different contextual applications of the theory. For educators who wish to gain a deeper understanding of the concept, this article provides a comprehensive explanation of how intersectionality can be applied across many distinct contexts and realms of social identity.

Informational Sites

1. The Urgency of Intersectionality: Kimberlé Crenshaw presents a moving and compelling call to action in this TEDTalk. Dr. Crenshaw explains the concept of intersectionality, details the reality of interlocking systems of bias, and urges the public to recognize this phenomenon in order to act back on intersectional oppression. An essential resource for learning about intersectionality from the creator of the concept herself.

2. Feminist Freedom Warriors: The official site of the Feminist Freedom Warriors offers access to an archive of intersectional feminist scholarship and speeches from the women who are leading sources of wisdom and inspiration in the intersectionality movement. This is a fabulous resource to learn about intersectionality from the scholars working on the frontlines for intersectional feminism. The site includes excellent resources for an expanse of relevant topics related to intersectionality, including the topics of Afro-Asian relations, AntiRacism, Chicana Feminism, and many more.

3. A Primer on Intersectionality: This guide from the African American Policy Forum details the necessity of intersectionality and includes the transcript of a powerful speech from Kimberlé Crenshaw titled "What Kind of Ally are You?." This resource takes a stand for the inclusion of intersectionality in politics and advocacy, and can be used by educators to bolster their own understanding of intersectionality as a crucial theory for the pursuit of educational equity.

Conclusion
Intersectionality explains how lived experiences are uniquely influenced by the combination of multiple social identities. Educating students about intersectionality provides a theoretical foundation for understanding how their own lived experiences, as well as the lived experiences of others, connect to a larger social system of privilege and oppression. Students will have countless varieties of intersecting social identities, and intersectionality is an inclusive theory that makes sense of even the most complex and marginalized social positions. Educating about intersectionality and with an intersectional lens moves society towards a future where each student values the personhood and individuality of themselves and others. Creating new social structures based on equity, justice, and empathy can begin in the classroom and continue in the world with students who learn to be change agents and civic leaders.
Additional Resources

1. Intersectionality Self Study Guide: This site lays out an overview of intersectionality before offering a variety of resources for self-study in the application of intersectionality as a social theory. The resources provided are accessible and helpful for anyone learning about intersectionality and can be utilized as classroom materials depending on the context. A list of suggested academic scholarships is included along with links to videos and articles.

2. Kimberlé Crenshaw: Instructors' Guide to Intersectionality: This comprehensive guide compiled by the Boise State Gender Studies program contains a multitude of links to different kinds of resources on intersectionality. This is a great resource for those who wish to dive deeper into the many realms in which intersectionality can be applied. This site provides a sort of bibliography of intersectionality resources and is very helpful for investigating scholarship relevant to different academic disciplines and social realms.

3. Diversity and Inclusion Resources for Curricula: Intersectionality: This is a compilation of resources for teaching about intersectionality created by the Social Justice, Equity, and Teaching Transformation Faculty Learning Community at Salisbury University. It includes many of the resources annotated on this page as well as recommendations for books, articles, and blogs. A great resource for educators and learners alike.

4. Self-Care: It is important to keep in mind that learning about police brutality and living through moments of unrest can be mentally and emotionally taxing for students and teachers. Check out our page on teaching about self-care to find resources for helping students develop tools for taking care of themselves. Other great resources include The LoveLand Foundation and Black Emotional And Mental Health (BEAM) Collective.

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Teaching About Intersectionality - Educators 4 Social Change

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Introduction Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how the intersections of different aspects of identity create unique experiences of discrimination and marginalization. Kimberlé Crenshaw first conceptualized the theory of intersectionality in her 1989 paper "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory...

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Intersectionality in quantitative research: A systematic review of its emergence and applications of theory and methods

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Intersectionality is a theoretical framework rooted in the premise that human experience is jointly shaped by multiple social positions (e.g. race, ge…

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Journal Information

Founded in 1948, the Stanford Law Review is a general-interest academic legal journal. Each year the Law Review publishes one volume, which appears in six separate issues between November and May. Each issue contains material written by student members of the Law Review, other Stanford law students, and outside contributors, such as law professors, judges, and practicing lawyers. Approximately 2,600 libraries, attorneys, judges, law firms, government agencies, and others subscribe to the Law Review. The Law Review also hosts lectures and an annual live symposium at Stanford Law School.

Publisher Information

The Stanford Law Review is operated entirely by Stanford Law School students and is fully independent of faculty and administration review or supervision. The principal missions of the Law Review are to contribute to legal scholarship by addressing important legal and social issues, and to educate and foster intellectual discourse at Stanford Law School. In addition to producing a publication, the Law Review also hosts lectures and an annual live symposium.

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Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color on JSTOR

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Journal Information Founded in 1948, the Stanford Law Review is a general-interest academic legal journal. Each year the Law Review publishes one volume, which appears in six separate issues between November and May. Each issue contains material written by student members of the Law Review, other Stanford law students, and outside contributors, such as law professors, judges, and practicing lawyers.

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Intersectionality is an approach to research that focuses upon mutually constitutive forms of social oppression rather than on single axes of difference. Intersectionality is not only about multiple identities but is about relationality, social context, power relations, complexity, social justice and inequalities. This report reflects upon the use of intersectionality in social geography and emphasizes the complex histories of intersectionality that are often overlooked in geography. I argue for a greater embrace of the contribution of black feminists and some of the earliest work in geography taking an intersectional perspective. I also argue for intersectionality to be used ethically and with care in geography, rather than it being deployed in a way that unwittingly reproduces a white, colonialist, racist and masculinist discipline. I explore possible avenues for future research about intersectionality in social geographies including a focus upon residential segregation, transnational migration and embodiment.

I Introduction

Intersectionality is the focus of my first progress report on social geography. Geographers have not been as attentive to the contested histories of intersectionality as they should have been; greater care is needed not to invisibilize the contributions of black and anti-racist feminist academics and activists who have been so crucial to shaping the field of intersectionality (e.g. Anthias and Yuval-Davis, 1982; Brah, 1996; Brah and Phoenix, 2004; Davis, 1983, 2016; Collins, 2000, 2013, 2015; Crenshaw, 1989, 1991; Hancock, 2007; hooks, 1982; Yuval-Davis, 2006). I emphasize three key points in this report: first, intersectionality emerged from activist and academic black feminism; second, this first point is often omitted from work in geography, which leads to the reproduction of our discipline as white, racist and colonialist; third, some of the earliest work in geography that adopts an approach informed by intersectional thinking also tends to be overlooked in much social geography research about intersectionality. Overall, geography could usefully adopt a more sensitive interdisciplinary approach to intersectionality that acknowledges more clearly the role of black feminism in its development.

II What is intersectionality?

Crenshaw (1989) observed that the dominant approach to discrimination tends to focus on exclusions occurring along a single categorical axis. She observed that this 'erases Black women in the conceptualization, identification and remediation of race and sex discrimination by limiting inquiry to the experiences of otherwise-privileged members of the group' ( Crenshaw, 1989: 140). For Crenshaw (1989), simply adding racism and sexism together does not address the ways in which black women are marginalized. Since this early intervention, intersectionality has been used in a variety of different ways by different scholars: as an analytical framework for social justice ( Hancock, 2016), a political orientation, epistemological practice, and ontological framework ( May, 2015); and an approach and a way of framing interactions ( Crenshaw, 1989, 1991). Other versions include it being regarded as an emerging or major paradigm ( Collins, 2013; McCall, 2005), a feminist theory ( Davis, 2008) and an analytic sensibility ( Cho et al., 2013). Cho et al. (2013: 786) note that 'it is more a heuristic device than a categorical one' and clarify that 'praxis has been a key site of intersectional critique'. Although there are varying and contrasting definitions of intersectionality, it is important to be aware of the ways intersectionality is being employed in contemporary work, why, and to what ends. Indeed, the diverse use of intersectionality has led to it being identified as a 'buzzword' ( Davis, 2008) which is an important part of its popularity and political currency ( Collins, 2015)

Crenshaw (1991) is often credited with introducing intersectionality into academia through her research about black women's employment experiences; she differentiated between structural, political and representational intersectionality. Structural intersectionality is about the ways in which black women have to deal with 'multi-layered and routinized forms of domination' ( Crenshaw, 1991: 1245) such as those associated with housing inequalities or employment practices. Political intersectionality focuses on the ways in which black women belong to at least two marginalized groups and so often have to engage with different political agendas. Representational intersectionality focuses on how images of women of colour - and debates about these - tend to overlook the intersectional interests of such women. Although applied to the experiences of black women, Crenshaw (1991: 1296) notes that 'intersectionality might be more broadly useful as a way of mediating the tension between assertions of multiple identity and the ongoing necessity of group politics'.

Some are concerned that 'the word "intersectionality" triggers use, misuse, and critique in ways that reinscribe the very political relations intersectionality scholarship critiques and sets to transform' ( Hancock, 2016: 4, see also Carbado, 2013; May, 2014, 2015). For this reason, misuses and critiques of intersectionality require critical scholarly interrogation. Intersectionality has a historical legacy that needs to be acknowledged and it also has a set of commitments that require in-depth engagement ( May, 2015). One criticism is that there is no specific method or methodology associated with intersectionality ( Nash, 2008; Phoenix and Pattynama, 2006). As Jordan-Zachery (2007) points out, intersectionality researchers have used survey data, content analysis, autobiographical and biographical approaches, in-depth interviews, narratives as well as discourse analysis. Researchers using intersectionality are urged not to adopt an additive approach and instead to look at how specific forms of inequality are mutually constitutive; yet sometimes the methods used result in an additive approach being used ( Jordan-Zachery, 2007; Lewis, 2009). Walby et al. (2012) also point to specific challenges around the place of social class, the balance between stability and fluidity of inequalities and focus on marginalized intersections whilst keeping the role of the powerful in view. A further challenge is often presented around what is meant by 'interlocking' ( Hancock, 2007; Jordan-Zachery, 2007) as intersectionality is often described as being about 'interlocking' forms of oppression with it not always being clear what this means. Puar (2012) points to some of the limitations of intersectionality becoming mainstreamed, questioning whether it now enables white liberal feminists to maintain their central position. An important concern about the employment of intersectionality in a wide variety of contexts and disciplines - and one that I follow up on in this report - is a serious concern about the displacement of race as a key consideration of intersectional analysis ( Bilge, 2013). Despite these criticisms, intersectionality is referred to regularly and is familiar to many social science disciplines, including geography.

III Challenges in using intersectionality

Cho et al. (2013: 785) note that there is 'a burgeoning field of intersectional studies' and Hancock (2016: 12) expresses concern about 'intersectionality's travel (both geographic and disciplinary) as replicating the very hegemonic politics that intersectionality was created to fight against' (see also Carbado, 2013; Lewis, 2013). I am sensitive to Hancock's (2016: 23) discussion of 'an interpretive community' which has been 'entrusted with the care of such a precious and complicated phenomenon like intersectionality'; geographers are permitted to use intersectionality but must do so ethically and with care. To ignore the origins of intersectionality and its relationships to black feminism would contribute further to the problematic reinforcement of geography as a white, racist, colonialist, masculinist discipline and risk the passive 'shrugging of the shoulders' response to accusations of geography being white ( Mahtani, 2014). Geographers needs to pay more attention to the origins of intersectionality in black feminism and not only cite the work of white women and men. Mott and Cockayne (2017) refer to 'white heteromasculism' bolstering the status of already-powerful white, middle-class, heterosexual, cisgendered and able-bodied men and how this often plays out in citation practices; they argue for 'conscientious engagement' with the politics of citation, seeing it as a 'feminist and anti-racist technology' ( Mott and Cockayne, 2017: 3).

A review of geography's deployments of intersectionality suggests four key issues at stake. First, intersectionality has a far more complex and diverse history than is often represented in much geographical scholarship. Many accounts of intersectionality start in the late 1980s or early 1990s, yet outside of academia what Hancock (2016: 24) calls 'intersectionality-like thought' was being developed by racially minoritized women's activist groups and social movements in different parts of the world (e.g. Combahee River Collective, 1983; Nash, 2011). Hancock (2016) traces ideas of intersectionality back to as early as 1831 to Maria Stewart in Boston, while Collins and Bilge (2016) refer to the 19th-century work of Savitribai Phule, a first-generation Indian feminist, and to Frances Beal's (1969) 'Double Jeopardy: To Be Black and Female'. Significantly, there was Global South engagement with ideas of intersectionality without necessarily naming it as such ( Collins and Bilge, 2016; see also hooks, 1982).

Second, related to this, intersectionality is too singularly associated with one specific field, year and person ( Alexander-Floyd, 2012; Collins and Bilge, 2016). Crenshaw's (1991) work is often cited as the source of intersectionality, yet others were working with the ideas of intersectionality well before this as Crenshaw herself is quick to acknowledge ( Guidroz and Berger, 2009; Phoenix, 2006). Collins and Bilge (2016: 83) observe that the oft-made claims that Crenshaw 'coined' the term 'not only routinely neglect the writings and activities of many people who came before Crenshaw, but also misread the full extent of Crenshaw's arguments' (see also Tomlinson, 2013). Crenshaw 'put a name to ways of theorising that black feminists had long advocated and that working class and lesbian feminists had promoted' ( Phoenix, 2006: 21). That being said, her 1991 piece is a significant contribution, particularly given its commitment to social justice, its focus on relationality, its emphasis on how 'mutually constructing systems of power produce distinctive social locations for individuals and groups within them' (p. 82) and its attention to lived and embodied experiences ( Collins and Bilge, 2016).

Third, as intersectionality has been used and applied in different contexts - often based on shallow misreadings or misunderstandings of it - there are concerns that the concept is depoliticized, separated from its social-justice focused origins ( Bilge, 2013), and 'flattened' as people's lives are being separated from their political situations (Fine, cited in Guidroz and Berger, 2009). Such depoliticization encourages the superficial employment of intersectionality. This 'ornamental intersectionality...allows institutions and individuals to accumulate value through good public relations and "rebranding" without the need to actually address the underlying structures that produce and sustain injustice' ( Bilge, 2013: 408).

Fourth, visibility and inclusion are imperatives for using intersectionality; yet, scholars have expressed anxieties about the whitening of intersectionality as the work of black feminists and other minoritized scholars are overlooked ( Bilge, 2013). Here, the concern is that intersectionality is seen to belong to disciplinary feminism which displaces the key role of race. 'Claiming that feminism is responsible for creating intersectionality has become a normative, perfectly naturalized, taken-for-granted feminist practice' ( Bilge, 2013: 413); this requires challenging in order to recognize intersectionality's important connections with critical race theory and racialization processes. Geographers need to be particularly cautious of this. Valentine's (2007) paper, for example, addresses feminist geography and locates intersectionality within feminist social science. This essentially connects intersectionality to gender studies rather than to antiracism and so centres gender rather than race as the focus of inquiry when the origins of intersectionality sit within both feminism and antiracism rather than only in the former. The whitening of intersectionality is, as Blige (2013: 418) suggests:

...a grim irony: a tool elaborated by women of color to confront the racism and heterosexism of White-dominated feminism, as well as the sexism and heterosexism of antiracist movements, becomes, in another time and place, a field of expertise overwhelmingly dominated by White disciplinary feminists who keep race and racialized women at bay. ( Bilge, 2013: 418)

My main point in all of this is that geographers need to show more sensitivity to the origins of intersectionality within black feminism. To ignore this issue risks intersectionality becoming depoliticized, flattened out and whitened, reinscribing rather than challenging geography as a white, masculinist, colonialist discipline. As a 'gathering place' ( Cho et al., 2013: 788), social geographers need to be ethical, respectful and sensitive to the complex histories of intersectionality.

IV Intersectionality in geography

Around the time that intersectionality was being introduced into socio-legal studies and anti-racist feminist sociology in the late 1980s and early 1990s, a small group of geographers were doing similar work. I highlight this work to make the point that social geographers have been thinking about issues relating to intersectionality for some time. For example, Peake (1993) investigated the entanglement of sexuality and race in understanding patriarchal urban spaces, Kobayashi and Peake (1994) discussed the connections between race and gender, Jackson (1994) wrote on gender, sexuality, race and the body, and Ruddick (1996) explored the intersections between race, gender and class. Moreover, in a progress report on social geographies in this journal, Smith (1990) discussed the tensions associated with only focusing on gender to the exclusion or marginalization of matters connected to race and class. Valentine's (2007) paper is often cited as one of the first in geography to focus upon intersectionality even though her paper acknowledges some of this earlier geographical work. Longhurst and Johnston (2014) provide a useful overview of some of this earlier work, particularly in relation to gender, sexuality and the body, and Peake (2010) has an excellent overview of the intersections of gender, sexuality and race. Since this early work, the use of intersectional approaches in geography has continued to grow. In the late 1990s and early 2000s a number of social geographers focused on the intersections of, for example, youth, gender and religion ( Dwyer, 1999; Hopkins, 2007) and youth, gender and class ( Nayak, 2006).

Despite the concept being routinely employed by many social geographers, my argument is that we could be far more sensitive to the activist and intellectual (albeit contested) origins of intersectionality and treat it with more care in our work. Some geographers tend to overlook both the origins of intersectionality in black feminism as well as the earliest work in geography. Yet amongst the main contributions to intersectional geographies are notable examples that acknowledge the origins of intersectionality and pay attention to both gender and race whilst also being attentive to matters of inequality and politics.

Work in feminist geography and studies of sexuality in social geography often adopts intersectional approaches. For example, Schroeder's (2014) work looked at the intersections of sexuality, religion and class in relation to the cultural politics of LGBT neighbourhoods in Ohio, Rodó-de-Zarate (2014, 2015, 2017) has advanced geographies of intersectionality through mapping young lesbians' use of space in Catalonia, and Valentine et al. (2010) have explored the intersections of sexuality and religion and belief through a focus on the Anglican Communion Lambeth conference. Brown (2012) provides a useful overview of the intersections between gender and sexuality in an earlier review in this journal (see also Johnston, 2016).

Geographers interested in masculinities have also applied intersectionality to their work ( Hopkins and Noble, 2009, Meth and McClymont, 2009). Intersectionality has been identified as a key mechanism from advancing geographies of age ( Hopkins and Pain, 2007; Pain and Hopkins, 2010) and has been used in work about young people ( O'Neill Gutierrez and Hopkins, 2014) and to explore the intersections between masculinities and older age ( Tarrant, 2010). Work about racism and black geographies also employs intersectionality; examples here include Shabazz's (2015) study of black masculinity in Chicago, Joshi et al's (2015) critical engagement with whiteness and microaggressions experienced by graduate students and faculty, and Eaves' (2017) insights into the queer Black South in the US. Bastia (2014) provides an excellent overview of the import that intersectionality has in debates about migration and development (see also Bastia et al., 2011) and intersectionality has also been employed in research focusing on issues relating to water, nature and ecology (e.g. Nightingale, 2011; Thompson, 2016). More recently, Gökariksel and Smith (2017) provide an insightful justification for the need for intersectional feminism in the era of Trumpism.

A particularly notable contribution in geography is Mollett and Faria's (2013) conceptualization of postcolonial intersectionality which they develop in relation to feminist political ecology (see also Mollett, 2017). They note that:

Postcolonial intersectionality acknowledges the way patriarchy and racialized processes are consistently bound in a postcolonial genealogy that embeds race and gender ideologies within nation building and international development processes. This concept reflects the way women and men are always marked by difference whether or not they fit nicely in colonial racial categorizations, as cultural difference is also racialized. ( Mollett and Faria, 2013: 120)

Another important contribution to the geographical literature is Hovorka's (2012, 2015) work about feminism and animals. Referring to the case of Botswana, men and women are 'associated with and have access to certain animals that, in turn, come with particular opportunities and/or constraints'. Hovorka (2015) observes that cattle are associated with higher socio-economic status and can shape land-use as well as providing a source of employment; she points out that they tend to be associated with men 'who hold birthrights to and benefit from cattle ownership' ( Hovorka, 2015: 5). In contrast, chickens have a lower status and tend to be more associated with women. Hovorka (2015: 6) finds intersectionality useful as it 'expands the nodes from which it is possible to unpack how power works in society by taking seriously species as a driver of social construction, experience formation, difference and inequality'.

A final example is Fisher (2015), who argues that the focus on the intersections of gender and race in geography has tended to conceptualize race and processes of racialization in relatively narrow terms. Based on her negotiations of her positionality as a student conducting fieldwork in the Philippines whilst being from New Zealand and studying in Australia and of mixed ethnicity (Maori and Pakeha), she uses an autoethnographic approach to explore how readings of her racialized body changed in different contexts. This work draws attention to the ways in which race, context and subjectivity are important when it comes to discussions about positionality and intersectionality. These three examples in particular all explore both racialization and gendering processes, are sensitive to the origins of intersectionality and show attentiveness to political issues and to inequality. In so doing, they avoid the omissions in some geographical work that risk whitening and depoliticizing intersectionality.

V Pathways forward

If geography is to challenge and overcome its racist and colonial tendencies and to ensure that intersectionality is not depoliticized and whitened, what are some ways forward? For me, this is about ensuring that matters of race, racism and racialization are not displaced. Collins and Bilge (2016) identify both social context and relationality as two of the key characteristics of intersectionality, alongside a focus on social inequality, social justice, complexity and power. It strikes me that in relation to social context and relationality in particular, social geographers have a potentially significant contribution to make. Collins and Bilge (2016: 197) clarify that 'social context has many interpretations' and they point to the importance of factors such as historic context, states and their use of power as well as social institutions as all contributing to 'social context'. Notably, they point out that 'the academy is an important institutional context for intersectionality' (p. 197) as well as the ways in which politics shapes how everyday places are constructed and arranged. Placing greater emphasis on the specifics of social context of 'local, regional, and national geography would provide a more nuanced discussion of global processes' ( Collins and Bilge, 2016: 199). This is where social geographers have a significant role to play.

There are a whole host of knowledges, theories and approaches that geography could bring to bear on the issue of social context and relationality in intersectionality. Whether it be about understandings of scale, appreciations of place or time-space relations, spatial belonging and identities, social geography could usefully help to advance how intersectionality is theorized, applied in research and used in practice. I now consider three areas that future work about intersectionality could productively focus upon: ethnic residential segregation, transnational migration, and embodiment and belonging.

Collins and Bilge (2016: 65) note 'in the confines of racially and ethnically segregated neighbourhoods and communities in the late 1960s, women of colour were in conversation/tension with the civil rights, Black Power, Chicano liberation, Red Power, and Asian-American movements'. The study of ethnic and religious residential segregation has a long history in social geography (e.g. Smith, 1989), yet the primary concern of such work continues to be about mapping, measuring and monitoring of patterns of ethnic and religious diversity and change. Reference to intersectionality within debates about residential segregation remains curiously absent and, at best, mentioned only in passing. A useful exception is Parker's (2016) 'feminist partial political economy of place' approach to urban research based upon her work in Milwaukee, USA. Parker finds that analyses of race and gender remain lacking in urban political research and 'intersectionality often lies unexamined' (2016: 1343). This approach includes focusing on both individual and intersectional structures of inequality and power, and crucially brings in the different components of intersectionality identified by Collins and Bilge (2016). A focus upon the ethnically segregated neighbourhoods from which ideas about intersectionality initially emerged provides fruitful ground for studies of intersectionality in social geography.

A second area where geographers could usefully employ intersectionality is through our work about transnational migration and mobility, in particular to enrich our understanding of migrants' connections with multiple places and localities. Kynsilehto (2011) presents a rich insight into the ways in which intersectionality can be used to understand the labour market strategies of highly-skilled Magherbi women migrants. Anthias (2001, 2008, 2009, 2012) has discussed the idea of 'translocational positionality' drawing upon her research with Greek Cypriot youth in the UK. Although Anthias is a sociologist, many of the ways in which she frames her work will appeal to social geographers and could usefully be employed to develop further geographical work about intersectionality. For Anthias (2002: 499), narratives of location, dislocation and translocation are 'essentially stories about time and place'; they are also not fixed and unmovable but are 'emergent, produced interactionally and contain elements of contradiction and struggle' ( Anthias, 2002: 500). Such narratives are also often about disassociation or denial, i.e. about rejecting what one is not a part of. Anthias (2008) refuses to see issues of migration and mobility as being only about dislocation. These ideas focus on location, translocation, dislocation and positionality in the lives of migrants. She suggests we focus on these issues in relation to gender, ethnicity, nationality, class and race ( Anthias, 2008). Moreover, she suggests that the shifting locales of individuals' lives - and the movements, mobilities and flows associated with this - will offer enriched understanding of migrants' multiple locations and understandings of the world.

My third and final suggestion is for intersectionality to be employed in work about embodiment and belonging. Yuval-Davis (2011) employs an intersectional framing to think through the politics of belonging. In focusing upon contestations over belonging and how these are embodied and disembodied, geographers could usefully move beyond the simplistic assumption that intersectionality is only about multiple identities. Yuval-Davis (2011: 13) notes that 'different locations along social and economic axes are often marked by different embodied signifiers, such as colour of skin, accent, clothing and modes of behaviour' ( Yuval-Davis, 2011: 13). The politics of belonging is also about social location and emotional attachments and how these are assessed ethically and politically. Considering these 'embodied signifiers' may involve focusing upon issues of race, class, gender and sexuality, but it may also be useful to consider matters of embodiment such as those associated with disposition, habit, recognition and style (see, for example, Noble, 2009). Tse (2014) discusses work on geographies of religion that has adopted an approach informed by intersectionality; this builds on earlier work about religious youth that adopted intersectional thinking and links this with debates about the embodiment of lived religion. He notes: 'to study lived religion is to accord individuals within religious communities the agency to compose their own intersectional subjectivities' ( Tse, 2014: 211).

VI Conclusion

I have argued that geographers are at risk of reinforcing our discipline as white, masculinist and colonial unless we treat intersectionality in a more sensitive and ethical way which includes paying more attention to its activist origins in black feminism. Ignoring the origins of intersectionality in black feminism and activism as well as associating intersectionality with feminism only work to reproduce geography, and the concept of intersectionality, itself as white. My suggestions for future research point to research areas that foreground matters of race, ethnicity, gender and locality - residential segregation, transnational migration, and embodiment and belonging - thereby making it difficult for the antiracist and activist roots of intersectionality to be overlooked. Geographers need to be careful not to depoliticize and whiten intersectionality; this means neither flattening it out by overlooking power relations nor ignoring the many minority women scholars who have contributed to its development. I conclude by suggesting that it could be useful to take intersectionality back to its origins - the practitioners, poets and activists who started to use ideas about intersectionality before it became written into academic work - and suggest that social geographers are ideally placed to think both about the academic import of intersectionality and also to work collaboratively with practitioners to do so ( Collins, 2015).

Many thanks to Sharlene Mollett and Rachel Pain for constructive feedback on an earlier draft and to Pauline McGuirk for her insightful editorial comments.

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Social geography I: Intersectionality - Peter Hopkins, 2019

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Intersectionality is an approach to research that focuses upon mutually constitutive forms of social oppression rather than on single axes of difference. Intersectionality is not only about multiple identities but is about relationality, social context, power relations, complexity, social justice and inequalities.

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Intersectionality involves the study of the ways that race, gender, disability, sexuality, class, age, and other social categories are mutually shaped and interrelated through forces such as colonialism, neoliberalism, geopolitics, and cultural configurations to produce shifting relations of power and oppression. The concept does not always offer a clear set of tools for conducting social research. Instead, it offers varied strands of thought, pointing to different methodologies and methods for doing intersectional research. In this article, we trace the genealogy of intersectionality as theory and methodology to identify challenges in translating the concept into research methods, and we review debates about what we identify as three "critical movements" in the intersectionality literature, comprising contestations regarding the theory's aims, scope, and axioms, in scholarship and research. Finally, we consider how these critical movements can offer researchers some guiding ethical principles for doing intersectionality justice in social research.

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Doing Justice to Intersectionality in Research - Carla Rice, Elisabeth Harrison, May Friedman, 2019

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Intersectionality involves the study of the ways that race, gender, disability, sexuality, class, age, and other social categories are mutually shaped and interrelated through forces such as colonialism, neoliberalism, geopolitics, and cultural configurations to produce shifting relations of power and oppression. The concept does not always offer a clear set of tools for conducting social research.

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What's Intersectionality? Let These Scholars Explain the Theory and Its History

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A brief history of the theory, courtesy of the scholars behind a project dedicated to the idea

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From the disparate impacts of the COVID-19 crisis in communities around the globe to international protests against racism and discrimination, current events have shown that we are far from achieving equality. Trying to interpret and battle a multitude of injustices right now may feel overwhelming. How do we take on all these issues, and why should we? Intersectional feminism offers a lens through which we can better understand one another and strive towards a more just future for all.

Kimberlé Crenshaw, an American law professor who coined the term in 1989 explained Intersectional feminism as, "a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other," in a recent interview with Time.

"All inequality is not created equal," she says. An intersectional approach shows the way that people's social identities can overlap, creating compounding experiences of discrimination.

"We tend to talk about race inequality as separate from inequality based on gender, class, sexuality or immigrant status. What's often missing is how some people are subject to all of these, and the experience is not just the sum of its parts," Crenshaw said.

Intersectional feminism centres the voices of those experiencing overlapping, concurrent forms of oppression in order to understand the depths of the inequalities and the relationships among them in any given context.

In Brazil, Valdecir Nascimento, a prominent women's rights activist, says that, "The dialogue to advance black women's rights should put them in the centre." For 40 years, Nascimento has been fighting for equal rights, "Black women from Brazil have never stopped fighting," she says, noting that black women were part of the feminist movement, the black movement, and other progressive movements. "We don't want others to speak for black feminists-neither white feminists nor black men. It's necessary for young black women to take on this fight. We are the solution in Brazil, not the problem," she says.

Using an intersectional lens also means recognizing the historical contexts surrounding an issue. Long histories of violence and systematic discrimination have created deep inequities that disadvantage some from the outset. These inequalities intersect with each other, for example, poverty, caste systems, racism and sexism, denying people their rights and equal opportunities. The impacts extend across generations.

Sonia Maribel Sontay Herrera is an indigenous woman and human rights defender from Guatemala where systematic discrimination against indigenous women has gone on for decades. Herrera has felt the consequences of these historical injustices since she was a girl.

At ten years old, she moved to a city to attend school, an opportunity most indigenous girls don't get, she says. However, Herrera was forced to abandon her native language, K'iche', and learn in Spanish, which she experienced as an unjust burden for an indigenous woman, since it was the language of the colonizer. After finishing her studies, as Herrera searched for professional work, she immediately encountered racism and sexist stereotypes. Since she was an indigenous woman, some said that they only had work for her in the home.

"They see us as domestic workers; when they see an indigenous woman, they assume that's all we can do," she explains, outlining the ways in which she experiences compounding forms of discrimination based on her identity.

"Those who are most impacted by gender-based violence, and by gender inequalities, are also the most impoverished and marginalized-black and brown women, indigenous women, women in rural areas, young girls, girls living with disabilities, trans youth and gender non-conforming youth," explains Majandra Rodriguez Acha, a youth leader and climate justice advocate from Lima, Peru. That marginalized communities are the most impacted by natural disasters and the devastating effects of climate change is not a mere coincidence, she stresses.

While issues ranging from discrimination based on gender identity to disparate environmental burdens may seem separate at first, intersectional feminism illuminates the connections between all fights for justice and liberation. It shows us that fighting for equality means not only turning the tables on gender injustices, but rooting out all forms of oppression. It serves as a framework through which to build inclusive, robust movements that work to solve overlapping forms of discrimination, simultaneously.

As concurrent, ongoing crises unfold across the globe today, we can use an intersectional feminist lens to understand their linkages and build back better.

Intersectional feminism matters today because:

The impacts of crises are not uniform.

Countries and communities around the world are facing multiple, compounding threats. While the sets of issues vary from place to place, they share the effect of magnifying pre-existing needs such as housing, food, education, care, employment, and protection.

Yet crises responses often fail to protect the most vulnerable. "If you are invisible in everyday life, your needs will not be thought of, let alone addressed, in a crisis situation," says Matcha Phorn-In, a lesbian feminist human-rights defender from Thailand who works to address the unique needs of LGBTIQ+ people, many of whom are indigenous, in crisis settings.

In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, the challenges of the virus have exacerbated long standing inequities and decades of discriminatory practices, leading to unequal trajectories.

Rather than fragmenting our fights, taking on board the experiences and challenges faced by different groups has a unifying effect; we are better able to understand the issues at hand and, therefore, find solutions that work for all.

Injustices must not go unnamed or unchallenged.

Looking through an intersectional feminist lens, we see how different communities are battling various, interconnected issues, all at once. Standing in solidarity with one another, questioning power structures, and speaking out against the root causes of inequalities are critical actions for building a future that leaves no one behind.

"If you see inequality as a "them" problem or "unfortunate other" problem, that is a problem," says Crenshaw. "We've got to be open to looking at all of the ways our systems reproduce these inequalities, and that includes the privileges as well as the harms."

A new 'normal' must be fair for all.

Because crises lay bare the structural inequalities that shape our lives, they are also moments of big resets - catalysts for rebuilding societies that offer justice and safety to everyone. They provide a chance to redefine 'normal' rather than return to business as usual.

Taking an intersectional feminist approach to the crises of today helps us seize the opportunity to build back better, stronger, resilient, and equal societies.

"COVID-19 has presented us... with a rare opportunity," says Silliniu Lina Chang, President of the Samoa Victim Support Group, who has been advocating for improved services for victims of domestic violence during the pandemic. "[It is] a time for all of us to reset. Think outside of our comfort zone and look beyond to the neighbour that is in need."

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explainer-intersectional feminism-what it means and why it matters

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Intersectional feminism: what it means and why it matters right now

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From the disparate impacts of the COVID-19 crisis in communities around the globe to international protests against racism and discrimination, current events have shown that we are far from achieving equality. Trying to interpret and battle a multitude of injustices right now may feel overwhelming.

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When Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term 30 years ago, it was a relatively obscure legal concept. Then it went viral.

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With the recent social unrest in the United States, organizations may need a framework to better understand the issues surrounding these events. Intersectionality is one of many lenses that can be used to better understand these issues.

The Intersection of Race and Sex

First, an explanation of the term intersectionality. The ideas of what would eventually be called intersectionality have some of their roots based in 1970s feminism. "Black feminist scholar-activists, a number of whom were LGBTQ, developed theoretical frameworks to serve as a model for other women of color, to broaden feminism's definition and scope." ¹ During this time, feminism was broadly focused on the experiences of heterosexual, white women while disregarding issues such as sexuality and race.

The term intersectionality was coined by Kimberle Crenshaw, who, at the time, taught law at the University of California, Los Angeles, Law School. Her piece, "Demarginalizing Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory, and Antiracist Polices" (1989) was groundbreaking in framing these many ideas into the term intersectionality. For the majority of her career, Crenshaw has focused on the idea of critical race theory. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, critical race theory (CRT) is "the view that the law and legal institutions are inherently racist and that race itself, instead of being biologically grounded and natural, is a socially constructed concept that is used by white people to further their economic and political interest at the expense of people of colour." ² In her piece, Crenshaw attempts to create a legal framework to better explain intersectionality that involves three court cases addressing the issue of race and sex discrimination. More specifically, that in each court case, the ruling only applied a singular analysis of either race or sex discrimination, but not both. For example, one of the plaintiffs is an African American woman, and Crenshaw argues that the law forgets that African American women are both racially Black and female, and can be discriminated against on the basis of both of these traits.

Prior to this, courts had found cases involving claims for both racial and sex discrimination to be impracticable. More specifically in one of the cases, DeGraffenreid vs. General Motors (1976), five African American women sued General Motors regarding a company policy that they felt targeted African American women. According to the policy, General Motors did not hire African American women prior to 1964, and when layoffs occurred in the 1970s, all African American women hired prior to 1964 were laid off. The courts did not allow the women to sue for both race and sex discrimination, and as stated above, ruled that considering both types of discrimination made their case unworkable. With her piece, Crenshaw hoped to bring to light that courts were not considering all different intersectional perspectives when interpreting discrimination law. ³

Defining Intersectionality

For a broader definition, the Oxford Dictionary defines intersectionality as "the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender, regarded as creating overlapping and interdependent systems of discrimination or disadvantage; a theoretical approach based on such a premise." ⁴ Figure 1 demonstrates the countless, different overlapping systems that make up intersectionality. The use of the term intersectionality has been widely adopted by a variety of groups since it was coined in the late 1980s. Many groups have embraced the ideas of intersectionality in their movements, including the #Metoo, Black Lives Matter (BLM), and LGBTQIA+ movements.

When attempting to formulate how to respond to social unrest in our communities, intersectionality is one lens that can be utilized to view and understand these issues. While this lens is not the only way to examine pivotal issues, it may give organizations additional perspective that they may not have considered. The times we are currently facing require a greater understanding of intersectionality, and how the different facets of the human condition warrant nuanced responses.

The LGBTQIA+ Lens

For those of us in the LGBTQIA+ community, the lens through which events are seen may be slightly different than the rest of the population. Though the community has made great strides in the last two decades, the right to serve in the military, ⁵ inherit from your spouse, ⁶ get married, ⁷ and sue for employment discrimination ⁸ are newly minted for us. For transgender individuals, some of these rights are still not guaranteed, with the federal government placing a prohibition on transgender individuals from serving in the military only three years after they were initially allowed to serve openly, ⁹ and multiple other protections being removed. Simply existing as a gay man or lesbian in some countries is punishable by death, ¹⁰ and the murders of transgender People of Color have made headlines in the United States frequently over the past year.

For some in the LGBTQIA+ community, this rapid change adds a different layer of perspective and illustrates how the goals and struggles of the community are not neatly sorted. The win on marriage for same-sex couples at the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 did not signal the end of the movement for LGBTQIA+ equality.

Since the start of 2020, the year has been a microcosm of all the current ails in society proliferating and solidifying at once, resulting in protests, riots, further social inequality, a pandemic, and an economic crisis of unparalleled size. A lack of federal leadership to tackle these issues has exacerbated their impact and forced state and local governments to fend on their own.

Intersectionality During COVID-19

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and protests over police brutality and race issues, transgender individuals have continued to see their federal protections erode, with federal regulations around homeless shelters and healthcare being modified to accommodate religious beliefs of shelter providers ¹¹ and healthcare providers. ¹² Rules such as these may impact the willingness and ability of individuals to seek shelter or medical care, which could have profound implications for local governments that are seeking to stop the transmission of a pandemic.

According to the Commonwealth Fund, approximately half of the 137,501 entities covered by the rule change are expected to rescind protections for transgender individuals, "including access to health services, receiving care consistent with their gender identity, and getting coverage for gender transition services." ¹³ On top of potential discrimination in healthcare, transgender individuals already face serious issues with public harassment, mental health issues, and economic issues, which are compounded for transgender People of Color.

This year has ignited a unique mix of serious crises and local governments have found many ways to address the issues when confronted with them. Across the country, local governments enacted mandatory face mask statutes, shelter-in-place orders, reforms of their police departments and policing statutes, and community engagement initiatives to address systemic racism. On April 2, 2020, Laredo, Texas, became the first jurisdiction in the United States to mandate that residents wear a mask in public to help stem the transmission of COVID-19, with a fine of $1,000 for any individual that ventured into public without one. ¹⁴ The cost of the fine caused some controversy in the community, where roughly one third of the population lives at or below the poverty line, but ordinances and mandates for mandatory face masks became more widespread when the CDC changed its initial guidance and began recommending they be worn to prevent the spread of the virus.

The pandemic has laid bare how the connections between race, class, and gender have fueled disproportionate rates of the disease among the Black and Latino population, particularly women, due to their overrepresentation among low-income workers. The hospitalization and death rates for the Black community in particular are considerably worse than for white people. ¹⁵ As our understanding of COVID-19 deepens, we also have begun to see a deeper connection to the root causes of why these communities have higher transmission rates and worse health outcomes.

In late May, while still in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, a police officer in Minneapolis knelt on the neck of George Floyd, a Black man, for almost nine minutes, leading to his death by asphyxiation; his last words were "I can't breathe." ¹⁶ His death ignited protests large and small across more than 350 cities in all 50 states, as well as solidarity protests in at least 48 other countries. ¹⁷ Communities are struggling to cope with the repercussions of protests, heightened tensions, and increased awareness around racial issues. City councils around the country are coping with a swift change in public opinion on policing in the aftermath of Floyd's death. The Minneapolis City Council voted unanimously to abolish their police department in late June, pending a vote by the public in November. The police department would be replaced by a department of community safety and violence prevention, which may have a smaller division for law enforcement, if the legislation is approved by voters. ¹⁸

Taking Action

After reading through this piece, you might be asking, what can my organization do to step up in these challenging times? In the final section, we want to provide a brief internal and external example of what some organizations have done to address these issues.

Internally, local governments have sought to establish a broad range of resources for employees, including employee resource and affinity groups, diversity or equity offices, and public safety liaisons to these communities. Human resource departments have also begun providing a broad range of training, with an emphasis on fostering a welcoming environment to encourage employee productivity. Local government managers need to be cognizant of the individual conditions that their employees face, and how they are supporting their employees to further the mission of their organization at a time when municipalities are facing severe constraints on their financial resources.

Externally, our organizations are facing an ever-growing chorus for us to respond to the recent social unrest. In many instances, it could be difficult for an organization to formulate a response. This may be for many reasons, including over-analyzing the response or being afraid that the response could contribute to worse civil unrest. The bottom line is that the public expects us, as leaders and organizations, to step up and meet the calls for change during these challenging times.

Most recently, when civil unrest occurred after the death of George Floyd, there were examples of local governments coming forward to help formulate solutions. Sheriff Chris Swanson of Genesee County, Michigan, made national headlines by putting down his riot gear and joining a protest against police brutality. ¹⁹ Other local governments have taken the opportunity to present initiatives intended to improve their local police forces. Police Chief Ana Lalley of Elgin, Illinois, with the approval of the city council, announced the formation of a task force to examine areas of improvement for the police department, the launching of an online community survey, and establishment of eight resident-led community advisory boards to discuss policing issues. Also, Chief Lalley announced that police officers and the community will take part in the "21-day Racial Equity Challenge," created by the Privilege Institute, which involves taking action to address issues such as power, privilege, supremacy, oppression, and equity. 20,21

As community leaders, we have a responsibility to promote and serve the best interests of our community. Going forward, that means taking diversity and the intersectional interests of our communities into account throughout any decision-making process, especially during crises of the magnitude that we have experienced this year.

JUSTYN MILLER is assistant to the village administrator in Berkeley, Illinois, and a member of the CivicPRIDE Steering Committee. CivicPRIDE is the first nationally recognized professional association for LGBTQIA+ professionals in local government. ( jmiller@berkeley.il.us)

NATHAN BASSETT is a senior budget analyst in Gaithersburg, Maryland, and a member of the CivicPRIDE Steering Committee and the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments 2019-2020 cohort on Race and Equity conducted by the Government Alliance on Race and Equity (GARE). Find him on Twitter: @nathanjbassett. ( nathan.bassett@gaithersburgmd.gov)

Endnotes and Resources

1 "What Is Intersectionality? A Brief History of the Theory | Time." 28 Mar. 2019, https://time.com/5560575/intersectionality-theory/. Accessed 6 Jul. 2020.

² "critical race theory | Definition & Facts | Britannica." 28 May. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/critical-race-theory. Accessed 7 Jul. 2020.

³ "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black ...." https://chicagounbound.uchicago.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=uclf. Accessed 6 Jul. 2020.

⁴ "Intersectionality | Definition of Intersectionality by Oxford ...." https://www.lexico.com/en/definition/intersectionality. Accessed 2 Jul. 2020.

⁵ "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" repeal legislation signed by President Barack Obama on December 22, 2010, and implemented in October 2011. https://archive.defense.gov/home/features/2010/0610_dadt/. Accessed 10 Jul. 2020.

⁶ Decided 26 June 2013. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/12pdf/12-307_6j37.pdf. Accessed 11 Jul. 2020.

7 Decided 26 June 2015. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/14pdf/14-556_3204.pdf. Accessed 11 Jul. 2020.

⁸ Decided 15 June 2020. https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/17-1618_hfci.pdf. Accessed 11 Jul. 2020.

⁹ https://www.nbcnews.com/feature/nbc-out/trump-s-controversial-transgender-military-policy-goes-effect-n993826. Accessed 11 Jul. 2020.

¹⁰ According to this photo article from June 2019, 12 countries still enforce the death penalty for gays and lesbians. https://www.usatoday.com/picture-gallery/life/2019/06/13/iran-yemen-among-countries-where-being-gay-is-punishable-by-death/39574925/ Accessed 11 Jul. 2020.

¹¹ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/01/us/politics/hud-transgender.html. Accessed 10 Jul. 2020.

¹² https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/06/12/868073068/transgender-health-protections-reversed-by-trump-administration. Accessed 10 Jul. 2020.

¹³ Corinne Lewis, Yaphet Getachew, and Mekdes Tsega, "Federal Government Moves to Eliminate Protections in Health Care for Transgender Americans," To the Point (blog), Commonwealth Fund, updated June 19, 2020. https://doi.org/10.26099/wyyj-yn46. Accessed 10 July 2020.

¹⁴ https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/04/03/laredo-coronavirus-masks/. Accessed 10 Jul. 2020.

¹⁵ https://www.forbes.com/sites/naomicahn/2020/05/10/mothers-day-and-covid-19s-impact-on-women-of-color/#4474308041ac. Accessed 12 Jul. 2020.

¹⁶ https://www.startribune.com/four-fired-minneapolis-officers-booked-charged-in-killing-of-george-floyd/570984872/. Accessed 12 Jul. 2020.

¹⁷ https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2020/06/mapping-cities-george-floyd-protests-erupted-200601081654119.html. Accessed 11 Jul. 2020.

¹⁸ https://www.npr.org/sections/live-updates-protests-for-racial-justice/2020/06/26/884149659/minneapolis-council-moves-to-defund-police-establish-holistic-public-safety-forc. Accessed 12 Jul. 2020.

¹⁹ "Meet Chris Swanson, Genesee County sheriff who joined Flint ...." 4 Jun. 2020, https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2020/06/04/chris-swanson-genesee-county-sheriff-protests/5308685002/. Accessed 12 Jul. 2020.

²⁰ "Elgin chief presents initiatives for police improvement, while ...." 25 Jun. 2020, https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20200625/elgin-chief-presents-initiatives-for-police-improvement-while-council-wants-task-force. Accessed 12 Jul. 2020.

²¹ "21-Day Racial Equity Challenge - America & Moore." https://www.eddiemoorejr.com/21daychallenge. Accessed 12 Jul. 2020.

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Intersectionality in the LGBTQIA Community

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With the recent social unrest in the United States, organizations may need a framework to better understand the issues surrounding these events. Intersectionality is one of many lenses that can be used to better understand these issues. First, an explanation of the term intersectionality.

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The urgency of intersectionality | Kimberlé Crenshaw

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What is Intersectionality and Why is it Important?