Intersectionality
Five women’s stories T
he term intersectionality was brought into focus as a legal discourse by Kimberle Crenshaw in her work on critical race theory. Crenshaw was concerned about the discrimination of African American women being inherent in the structures of the American legal system. She defines intersectionality as a tool for looking at the ways in which race and gender intersect to create barriers and obstacles to equality.
The concept was enshrined in law in England and Wales by the implementation of the Equality Act 2010.1 This was an attempt to address this multifaceted issue through the justice system. The act lists protected characteristics identifying how intersectionality is affected by ethnicity, gender, age, sexual orientation, culture, nationality, religion and disability. Intersectionality has become an international discourse today. Its influence and reach is visible in the policy documents of World Bank governance reports and International law. However my concern, in this first of two articles on the subject, is how the list of protected characteristics, enshrined by the Equality Act of 2010, gets played out in the everyday lived experience of legal women. So I sought the stories of five such women. “It's the look” said Julia reflecting on what for her was the main exclusionary factor of her experience as a legal woman: “Not looking a particular way”. Why are you wearing men’s clothes? Her female manager had asked during her training. They aren’t men’s clothes, she’d responded, but the way I look. I thought you were interested in the quality of my work. The look was raised again, and again. Then in 1998 Julia said: we won’t be having this conversation in January, because the new Disability Discrimination Act is out and, as I have rheumatoid arthritis and wear sensible lace up shoes, you won’t be able to discriminate against me anymore. A lesbian has to rely on the Disability Discrimination Act to wear the clothes she feels suits her personality! Fortuitous? It was not until 2003, that UK legislation was introduced to deal specifically with sexual orientation, harassment and discrimination in the workplace. At the end of her two years, Julia did not apply to join the firm. The manager took her to lunch and asked why not – as the quality of her work could not be faulted: “you are the only trainee solicitor we have had who has not applied at the end of their term”. “They may not have liked my look” laughs Julia, “but they seemed to admire my authenticity as I survived there for two years”.
8 | LegalWomen
Julia had already encountered the look barrier at University where the barrister teaching the course pronounced to the group You’re not going to make it to barrister unless you change into the acceptable version of yourself... “Then there were my northern vowels…” continues Julia who comes from Wigan. “Is it the same for a young lesbian woman starting out today?” “I think sexual harassment, comments about appearance, and the violence that goes with it hasn’t changed much”. “So what would you advise?” “Be true to yourself!” she grins. The look was experienced differently by Darlene. “I’m very conscious of my appearance. I never feel as though I can have a day where I just don’t bother, or go into work looking ‘less than’. A white woman might – she could go into work dressed casually and people might just think ‘Oh she looks like a bit of a bohemian today’ but for me it would be ‘Oh she looks scruffy!’ Dressing ‘less than’ Darlene Waite is not an option for a Black woman. I was in court once, and I could not have looked more like a lawyer than I did: I was wearing a smart suit, sitting with my briefcase on my lap, fine tuning my arguments, in preparation for my case representing a landlord whose tenant had not been able to pay her rent; when a woman came up to me and said, ‘Excuse me are you my client Mrs Pocket?’ ‘No I’m not!’ I said, and she realised slowly I was her opponent in court”. “What did she do?” “She opened the door to the court for me when the case was called, and I walked past and took my seat”. “You blanked her?” “Yes. I wanted to let her know, so that she would not do it to other black women. Not everyone is as confident as I am...”. “It was a racist affront?” “Well, the only difference between her appearance and mine was the colour of my skin!” “So what is your advice to younger women who may encounter similar prejudice from white educated women?” “To have something in your toolbox!”
