10 minute read
Intersectionality American
Interview
A woman of colour can experience a different type of discrimination than a man of colour does; a different combination of vulnerabilities often leads to a different experience. Unfortunately, not everybody sees that, claims American Professor of Law, Kimberlé Crenshaw. She is trying to change our framework of thinking through ‘intersectionality’.
By Aafke Kok
Apuzzle: a father and his son were seriously injured in a car accident. The ambulance sped to the hospital. On arrival, the surgeon said: ‘I cannot perform surgery, this is my son.’ What is going on here? Even human rights advocate and Professor Kimberlé Crenshaw (UCLA School of Law, Columbia Law School) had to think for a while when she first heard this, until she figured out that the surgeon in this puzzle was the injured son’s mother. If the facts do not fit within our framework of thinking, we disregard the facts. A female surgeon does not match our standard picture and, therefore, we overlook her.
When Crenshaw speaks to large audiences, she sometimes tests them. She reads out names one by one. Anyone who does not know the person must sit down. After naming a few names, the entire audience is back in their seats. Crenshaw then explains what these names have in common: they are all names of women of colour who died as a consequence of police brutality. Even people campaigning against police brutality towards people of colour barely know these names, although women of colour are probably a group that is even more vulnerable to the police. And yet we do not see them.
It was Crenshaw who introduced the term ‘intersectionality’ to describe these sorts of problems. This term refers to thinking in terms of intersections. At such intersections, different identities come together, which can lead to layered forms of discrimination, such as discrimination based on both gender and on race. ‘Intersectionality is a framework that can help us to find out how different forms of exclusion can happen at the same time,’ says Crenshaw. ‘This coming together of identities often has effects that people, from employers to activists, do not recognize.’ It is a metaphor to show that different forms of exclusion can overlap, which causes new obstacles.
Does intersectionality apply to us all?
‘It depends entirely on the context. Intersectionality is not a formula. It is a way of describing circumstances in which you – if you are vulnerable to one form of discrimination – can also feel the impact of a different form of discrimination. You can use it to identify how some burdens or forms of exclusion can be made worse. For example, women can experience discrimination in many different ways. These experiences can have more of an impact on women who are also, for example, immigrants, or who are also disabled.
It can happen anywhere. I mainly write, both publicly and privately, about law, conceptualization, representation in the media and violence. But people can experience the
intersecting impact of racism, Islamophobia, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, class inequality, etc. anywhere. Every form of inequality has different effects when it overlaps with another form of vulnerability. Intersectionality helps us to see and understand how forms of inequality come together.’
Don’t people see that?
‘Most people think in exclusive categories. You are a woman, or you are a person of colour. You are LGBTQ+, or you are an immigrant. They regard being a woman and being of colour as two mutually exclusive things and perceive that in the same way. I try to fight those assumptions, to show that someone can be multiple things at the same time. That someone can have experiences that reflect precisely all those different categories. We must pursue our understanding of discrimination to the point where we come across aspects that we do not understand. And we must get past those. This means not stopping when we encounter an intersecting form of discrimination that we do not understand, or that nobody talks about. In that way, we can ensure that equality activism is at its most inclusive.’
Because activists are also not very good at intersectionality?
‘For me, intersectionality started when I tried to understand whether the short-sightedness that I observed regarding the work of feminists and anti-racism activists was also reflected in law. I pleaded earlier for the introduction of diversity in law faculties. Then, I discovered that initiatives to address diversity concerning gender were often not about ethnic diversity, and vice versa. As if these two things can only be tackled separately.
I came across some disturbing court cases in my research that suggested that courts did not do much better. Like feminists and antiracism activists, courts are not good at anticipating and responding to the unique status of women of colour. The way in which we conceptualize discrimination based on
CV ‘I try to show that an individual Kimberlé can be multiple things at the same Crenshaw time.’ Crenshaw (1959) obtained her Bachelor’s degree in Government and Africana Studies at Cornell University. She then obtained her Juris Doctor degree at Harvard Law School and gender, and discrimination based on ethnicgenerally a case of continually asking: does subsequently her Master ity, is in itself part of the problem.’ this approach work for everyone? Or are of Laws at the University we missing things? If you have the correct of Wisconsin Law School. How can you deal with this as an activist? framework, you can always ask the right In 1986, she started wor‘All women can be subjected to discriminaquestions. As Mari Matsuda (Professor of king at the UCLA School tion. However, viewed from a feminist perLaw at the William S. Richardson School of of Law, where she still spective, women in organizations are repreLaw, University of Hawaii, eds.) said: I recoglectures on subjects such sented mainly by white middle-class women, nize the sexism here, but do I also recognize as Intersectional Perspecthereby missing many of the effects of sexism. the racism? Or, I recognize the racism here, tives on Race, Gender and The same is true for racism. If you only look at how men of colour experience racism, you will miss how women experience this. In the same way, initiatives against violence must take into account the various but do I also recognize the homophobia? We must keep asking these questions to broaden our concept of what inequality looks like. I am now surrounded by a team. We work the Criminalization of Women and Girls. In 1995, Crenshaw was appointed Professor at Columbia Law School. Meanwhile, she founded the non-profit forms of violence. If their help is not broadly together in many areas, from advocacy to organization African Amebased, they will exclude, for example, some research to educating the public. We always rican Policy Forum, among women who experience gender-related keep the same questions in mind.’ others, with which she violence. This is just one of thousands of tries to bridge the gap beexamples.’ Do you run into obstacles doing this tween academic research work? and the public debate How are intersectionality and jurisdiction ‘The starting point for intersectionality was on discrimination and ininterlinked? to attract attention to the fact that even the equality. ‘Intersectionality was originally a word to law does not do a good job at preventing all describe ways in which discrimination court forms of discrimination. If even the law, and cases in the US often ruled against women as I mentioned just before, also activists are of colour. Those women were only proven falling short in their ability to recognize and right if the discrimination claim was accomacknowledge intersecting forms of discrimipanied by a claim from white women or a nation, you can imagine that society cannot claim from men of colour, like in the case do much better. So yes, it is an area with against General Motors (see information many challenges.’ box). The assumption in that case was that women of colour experienced discrimiI can imagine that not everyone who feels dying as a result. But when people rise up nation in the same way as did white women discriminated against goes to court. How against police brutality, these deaths are or men of colour. Intersectionality shows can you then still do your job? often forgotten. Also, sexual abuse by the that experiences of discrimination can be ‘In fact, most people do not go to court. police is often not mentioned, not even by different.’ Not all my work related to intersectionality feminists who campaign against violence is based on court cases. Much of my current against women. Violence against women How do you, as a Professor of Law, study work involves societal problems that don’t of colour is an area of intersecting vulneraintersectionality? concern discrimination in the workplace. bilities that often ends up having nothing ‘I investigated whether the laws against Most women of colour who experience to do with courts. It is visible in ways that discrimination based on gender and based police brutality do not go to court, but it is a do not involve law. For example, I started on ethnicity worked equally well for women form of intersecting vulnerabilities. Women working with mothers of women who died of colour as for white women. That was the of colour have more often had contact with as a consequence of police brutality. I pass specific question that I tried to answer. It is the police and have a higher probability of on their story.’
GETTY IMAGES
Working at General Motors
In an American court case from 1976, which has now become iconic, the judge ruled against four women of colour. These women accused General Motors of discriminating against them: General Motors allegedly did not employ women of colour. Discrimination based on race, skin colour, religion, gender or nationality was prohibited according to the Civil Rights Act. But according to the judge in this case, General Motors was not guilty of sexism or racism. The company employed women and they employed men of colour. It never occurred to the judge that two forms of vulnerability to discrimination, gender and ethnicity, came together here and that this works differently from sexism or racism alone.
Can we ever have a society that is equal for everyone?
‘Philosophers have talked about this for thousands of years; I stay clear of this. We have in any case not yet reached that state. Things are not getting any better in the United States now that Trump is in power. However, I prefer looking at the here and now: what can we realistically change now?’
What must we change? Must we also consider intersectionality in the diversity policies of organizations?
‘Much has to change. Our concepts, the ways in which we work. Our laws, the media, our economy. Many relationships must be different to bring about a meaningful shift towards equality for everyone.
Organizations’ diversity policies must also change. Our organizations should look exactly like our society, be an honest reflection of society. Intersectionality helps to remind us that we must not only pay sole attention to ethnicity, gender and other forms of diversity. We must ensure that we are also aware of the ways in which people can be burdened in many ways, ways that activists sometimes forget. We must also consider this in diversity policies.’
Can science help us with this?
‘Science can certainly help, if you use it correctly. I am, for instance, very interested in cognitive sciences. This explains how, for example, prejudices can have an effect on various aspects of our thinking.
Cognitive sciences can show what people see and what they think they see. Science can also help us to get past the denial that is present in so many people in our society, about the consequences of compartmentalization that we are all guilty of in our daily lives. It is hard to change our framework of thinking and our concepts. But science can help us to achieve this.’
