The Intersections of Intersectionality

If there’s one word that has been floating around in activism circles, especially after the Black Lives Matter protests, it’s intersectionality. Defined by Google murkily as “the interconnected nature of social categorizations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to a given individual or group”, intersectionality is an admittedly difficult concept to wrap your head around. I choose to define intersectionality like this: the understanding that no one identity lives in a vacuum, and different issues can arise when all identities are discussed. As an organization dedicated to gender equality in the law and in society, it can sometimes be easy for us to view this concept of intersectionality as easy to forget. Furthermore, we know we’re not alone. Numerous advocacy organizations, from youth-led to those run by adults with decades of experience, often don’t pay attention to how various identities work with the causes they espouse. Generation Ratify Virginia is dedicated to preserving intersectionality in the gender equality fight, and here’s why.

Why is intersectionality important?

Intersectionality is critical, especially in advocacy, because it highlights issues that we often tend to miss if we have tunnel vision surrounding certain issues. Specifically in the gender equality fight, it is true that women are paid significantly less than men for the same level of work. What many gender activists seem to leave out, however, is that black and Latinx women earn less than white women. When we ignore the fact that gender and race intersects, we can never fully address the problem. Even if we solve the gender pay gap in America, if we do not pay attention to the race pay gap, our efforts for equality have not been fully realized. Of course, the pay gap is only one symptom of systemic oppression that exists at the intersection of being female and a person-of-color. Numerous things from employment discrimination to police brutality tend to hit BIPOC women far more than white women. In order to allow all voices to be heard, recognition of race-gender intersectionality is a necessity.

Another example of intersectionality entails women within the LGBT+ community. Modern-day feminism, either intentionally or inadvertently, tends to focus advocacy on straight cis women, ignoring the issues and efforts of queer women activists around the world. After all it was a trans woman (who was also black, might I add) who heroically started the Stonewall Riots and set the LGBT civil rights movement on the course that led it to where it is today. Furthermore, LGBT women, as with women of color, are far more likely to experience discrimination on numerous levels than with white straight women. By ignoring this critical identity that intersects with the gender equality space, we are excluding voices and straying from our mission of encouraging gender equality for ALL.

How can our organization serve the purpose of intersectionality?

As an organization, we pledge to do the following things to promote intersectionality throughout the gender equality space here in Virginia.

1. Raise Awareness: Very recently, Generation Ratify VA’s Instagram account (@generationratifyva) started a series entitled “Illuminating Intersectionality”. This is where we have (and will continue to) highlighted various intersectional issues that affect women from various backgrounds. Many people are not fully aware of the impacts of intersectionality — or what intersectionality even means, for that matter. We hope to change that.
2. Amplify BIPOC and Queer Voices: Furthermore, we know that the best way to truly make change in the way we think of gender activism is by amplifying voices that are not always heard in traditional activism. We want to provide platforms for various individuals from different backgrounds, so they speak truth to power in how intersectionality affects them.
3. Be Inclusionary: Finally, we know that the key principle that leads us as a youth-led organization is “inclusion”. We pledge that every policy we support, and every action we push, will be inclusive to people of all races, sexual orientations and socioeconomic backgrounds. We sincerely hope that Generation Ratify Virginia can be an organization that supports feminists from various communities.

This editorial was written by Tejas Muthusamy, Communications Director of GVA. As an experienced youth activist & advocate for gender equality, Tejas wants to emphasize the importance of understanding all the intersections of intersectionality when it comes to this fight!