BY GUEST CONTRIBUTOR, LUNA MALBROUX

More than likely, you’ve probably heard the term “Intersectionality.” It’s a phrase that has been used in workplaces, college campuses, and even came into pop-culture popularity over the past 5 years. As with any idea or theory, it has become misinterpreted and misunderstood by many critical and or fearful of its implications. But what is it? Kimberlé  Crenshaw, the woman who coined the term over 30 years ago in 1989, explains it simply as:

“Intersectionality is a metaphor for understanding the ways that multiple forms of inequality or disadvantage sometimes compound themselves and they create obstacles that are often not understood within conventional ways of thinking of anti-racism or feminism.”

The introduction of intersectionality has been monumental in advancing the rights of many people with intersecting identities for decades. As this year’s Black History Month comes to a close, we celebrate Kimberlé Crenshaw, a leading authority on Civil Rights. In the hope of highlighting her work, we hope to bring to light the importance of intersectionality in advancing gender equity. 

Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw, an Ohio native, is a lawyer, and Professor of Law at UCLA and Columbia Law School. She is also a philosopher, civil rights advocate, and leading scholar on Black feminist legal theory, race, racism and the law. In 1989, Crenshaw first publicly shared her theory of intersectionality in a paper in the University of Chicago Legal Forum titled “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex.”

Issues of both racial and sex discrimination were explored in the paper that focused on three legal cases. In one of the most notable, DeGraffenreid v. General Motors, five Black women sued General Motors for a policy they argued targeted Black women exclusively. The women argued that office and secretarial jobs were offered to white women. The courts found that the employment of Black male factory workers disproved that there was any racial discrimination, and said that the employment of female office workers disproved gender discrimination. They dismissed the case, refusing to consider that the discrimination the Black women faced was compound. 

Crenshaw examined the case, and argued that, in this limited view of discrimination, the court “seemed to forget that Black women are Black and female, and thus subject to discrimination on the basis of both race, gender, and often a combination of the two.”

A few years later, in 1996, Crenshaw founded the African American Policy Forum, an innovative think tank that connects academics, activists and policy-makers to promote efforts to dismantle structural inequality. The work of the AAPF has been fundamental in the creation of initiatives such as #SayHerName, a movement that calls attention to police violence against Black women, girls and femmes (watch her Ted Talk addressing the issue).

Crenshaw continues to write, lecture and spread knowledge on Critical Race Theory and Intersectionality. She has addressed audiences all around the world, including Brazil, India, and the continents of Europe and Africa. Learn more about her work at AAPF.org.

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