In the summer of 2013, after George Zimmerman was acquitted for the death of Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, the Black Lives Matter movement took to the streets across the U.S. and Canada. Since then, one term floated up through the chants and out into everyday language: intersectional feminism.

So, what is it?

The word was originally used as a way to explain the specific oppression of Black women.

Consider that race bias and gender bias are two separate issues; however, both can often be at play, creating even more oppressive circumstances. Intersectionality is the framework to describe the phenomenon of being impacted and oppressed by multiple sources, but only treated for one.

“Blackness is the gauge of oppression, and being a woman is an identifier of oppression on the gender continuum. Black women will always remain low on the hierarchy of nonsense that is society” said Adora Nwofor, a Calgary activist, comedian and organizer of the Calgary Women’s March.

Today the term has been used to include all racialized women. It’s a framework to understand the complex and overlapping layers of inequities that face them such as gender, race, physical ability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, nationality and socio-economic status.

To fourth-wave feminists, it’s foundational. It has brought society into a sharper focus. It’s a constant process of learning and unlearning.

“If you are a feminist, you should value intersectional feminism above all else. In order to be equal we need to raise up the most vulnerable and those in the most harm,” said Nwofor.

Where did the term come from?

The term was coined in 1989 by an American civil rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw. She used it the term in reference to the 1976 court case Emma DeGraffenreid vs. General Motors, which involved a collective of Black women who set out to prove that they weren’t getting better jobs due to systemic racism. The court dismissed the women’s claims. The court argued that women were getting better jobs and Black workers were also getting better jobs. The court then asserted that Black women were unable to combine their race and gender claims into one.

“Crenshaw unpacked the case and determined that the law had no real way to think about what happens when two identities intersect and what happens at the intersection of identity,” said Janovicek.

Intersectionality was a lived reality for decades before it became the term we hear today.

“It was something that pulled together about 30 years of black feminist thought,” said Nancy Janovicek, a University of Calgary history professor.

In her work Crenshaw explains intersectionality in terms of a traffic intersection. When an accident occurs, it can be caused by cars coming from one direction, or all directions. When Black women face discrimination it isn’t just one factor, it can come from all directions.

How should it be used?

Should you use the term if you’re not a racialized woman? Well that depends on who you ask and how you use it.

“I’ve seen white men co-opt that term. That takes it out of the very important politics of oppression,” said Janovicek. “The history of Black women’s activism is often erased in the way that people are using the term now.”

Janovicek describes herself as a feminist who is influenced by intersectional feminism, but said that it can be acceptable to call yourself an intersectional feminist only if you use it while acknowledging your own privilege while expressing the values of intersectionality.

But some activists feel that the term should be solely reserved for Black women.

“It is specific to Black women. But I have always wanted to include everybody in our struggle for our humanity. We invite people to talk about feminism with humility,” said Nwofor.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

According to Paulette Senior, CEO of the Canadian Women’s Foundation, the term needs to be broader than an identity. It needs to be a way of life. Senior said that there should be a trickle-down effect from the top with intersectional feminism touching all spheres including workplaces, government, and communities.

“It needs to be a healing of past wounds, especially around Truth and Reconciliation in Canada, and once it is, I’m optimistic we will see true equality,” said Senior.

Where can I learn more?

Crenshaw is still an active speaker and currently has a podcast on the topic called Intersectionality Matters. She also breaks down her theory into very interesting bite-sized morsels in a much-hyped TED talk.

Her book On Intersectionality contains many of her key essays including the piece that describes the pivotal court case against General Motors.