International Women's Day 2022: Why Intersectional Feminism Matters

First, let’s start with some definitions: “Feminism” is the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of equality of the sexes. All too often, feminism is misconceived as an idea that women believe themselves more important than men, or above men in some sense, while that is not the case at all. True feminism is the equality of all humans, no matter to what gender they identify.

When I first came out as a feminist in 2013, my understanding of feminism was limited to just that; and the concept that to be a feminist was some sort of a cut and dry identity to which to attach myself. Over the past decade, I have come to learn that feminism is so much more than a unidimensional label and that to assume as such not only does not move equal rights forward but may in fact detract from their progression.

In 1989, Kimberlé Crenshaw[1]an American law professor and civil rights advocate, coined the term “intersectional feminism” as “a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other.”[2]

In other words, people have a variety of social identities that overlap and create different experiences of discrimination and perspective. To understand a person, one must understand those identities to get closer to how those overlapping identities shape their world view and experience. For example, I identify as a white, cisgender[3], neurodivergent[4] woman from the southwest United States. Each of those identities inform how and what forms of discrimination I am most likely to or have experienced, and it may (read: probably does) vary greatly from an African American, non-cisgender woman from Chicago.

In essence, just because we both may identify as women, our experiences and perspectives on key issues related to human rights most likely will be different in many respects and very similar in others. To give an example, as a cisgender woman, I will never understand what it is like to feel as though I was born in the wrong body, however I probably share many experiences as being perceived as a woman like being talked over or assumed my male spouse is the main decision maker in our household. As a white woman, I also will never understand what it feels like to be a person of color, although I may share the experience of a male colleague being mistaken as the manager or superior.

On this International Women’s Day as we talk about #BreaktheBias, it means we must take into account all of the nuances of identities that we as humans ascribe to ourselves and work to remove the bias of assuming those identities of others. Equality cannot be achieved without equity and empathetic recognition and understanding is a prerequisite of both.

The journey as an intersectional feminist, to which I now proudly ascribe myself, is never-ending and impossible without humility and critical thinking of both the issues at hand but also of myself and my lens through which I view the world. I would not be at this point today if it were not for the many women in my life (too many to name) and the incredible authors and speakers that have helped me to see their perspectives.

I encourage everyone to take a look into the prism of another’s world view on human rights, and below are some of the resources I have explored, in no particular order:

• We Should All Be Feminists, TedTalk and book by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

• Hood Feminism, by Mikki Kendall

• I am Malala, by Malala Yousafzai

• Girl, Woman, Other, by Bernadine Evaristo

• The Moment of Lift, by Melinda Gates

• Dead Blondes and Bad Mothers, by Sady Doyle

• When Women Ruled the World, by Dr. Kara Cooney

• Power Up, by Magdalena Yesil

For this year's #IWD2022, I am recommitting to the unending path of learning more, so if you have any suggestions or resources you have found enlightening, please share in the comments.

Sources:

[1] Time.com “She Coined the TermShe Coined the Term ‘Intersectionality’ Over 30 Years Ago. Here’s What It Means to Her Today” https://time.com/5786710/kimberle-crenshaw-intersectionality/ Accessed 7 March 2022

[2] UNWomen.org “Intersectional feminism: what it means and why it matters right now” https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2020/6/explainer-intersectional-feminism-what-it-means-and-why-it-matters Access 7 March 2022

[3] Cisgender: one who identifies as the same sex as assigned at birth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cisgender

[4] Neurodivergent: one whose cognitive function is not considered “typical” https://exceptionalindividuals.com/neurodiversity/ Access 7 March 2022