Intersectionality is a concept that explains how different systems of inequality based on gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, class, and other forms of discrimination "intersect" to produce distinct outcomes. It recognizes that people's experiences of oppression and privilege are shaped by the interplay of their various social identities.
Kimberlé Crenshaw, a legal scholar and civil rights activist, is credited with inventing the term "intersectionality" in 1989. She defined intersectionality as the way in which multiple forms of inequality or oppression, such as racism, sexism, classism, ableism, heterosexism, and more, can compound and create different modes of discrimination or disadvantage.
The urgency of intersectionality - Kimberlé Crenshaw • TEDWomen 2016
Now more than ever, it's important to look boldly at the reality of race and gender bias -- and understand how the two can combine to create even more harm. Kimberlé Crenshaw uses the term "intersectionality" to describe this phenomenon; as she says, if you're standing in the path of multiple forms of exclusion, you're likely to get hit by both. In this moving talk, she calls on us to bear witness to this reality and speak up for victims of prejudice.
40+ Dimensions of Diversity and the Many Intersections
"This resource aims to illuminate the infinite intersections that compose our identities. In this process, we will unpack the challenges and biases people with different identities face at work."
10 Best resources on… intersectionality with an emphasis on low- and middle-income countries (Department for International Development): This guide highlights the use of intersectional analysis as part of understanding people-centred health systems.
Use of intersectionality theories in interventional health research in high-income countries: a systematic scoping review by Antonio Rojas-Garcia et al.
Intersectionality theory suggests that multiple forms of inequality need to be considered simultaneously. The extent to which intersectionality has been used within interventional health research has not been systematically examined. This scoping review explores the use of intersectionality when designing and implementing interventions to reduce health inequalities, or when analysing the impact of these interventions.
Adopting an intersectionality framework to address power and equity in medicine by Rajvinder Samra et al.
Responses to police brutality and the disproportionate effects of COVID-19 among ethnic minority populations have widened realisations about racism, and social and health inequities.1 Typically, medical institutions such as the Association of American Medical Colleges outline their position against racism1 separately from their mission for achieving gender equity.2 However, in western settings, the downstream effects of medical education on doctors and patients is shaped by patriarchal and colonial histories and values.3, 4 Patriarchal cultures in medicine constrain women doctors’ career choices and progression internationally.5 Medical textbooks reinforce norms based on Whiteness by under-representing racial and ethnic minorities—eg, different presentations and clinical signs for patients with darker skin tones.6 Exporting western biomedical knowledge to other global settings reinforces inequality.3 Dismantling the power structures in medicine, however, requires complex thinking that goes beyond focusing on one dimension at a time—eg, patriarchy or racism. This requirement is also relevant to the decolonising global health movement.
Medical institutions need to turn their lens towards intersectionality—the inextricable way that factors such as race, class, gender, disability, and sexuality intersect to shape each other within broader structures and processes of power.
Intersectionality and nursing leadership: An integrative review by Cathleen Aspinall et al.
This review aimed to synthesise international research about how intersectionality has been used to explore issues within the nursing profession. The objectives were to determine which intersecting variables have been explored, how intersectionality has been operationalised, and the implications for nursing leadership.
Professional identity formation, intersectionality and equity in medical education by Paul E. S. Crampton et al.
The text discusses how various factors can create barriers, opportunities, and enablers in the education system that can lead to inequity. These factors can include financial support, educator guidance, and discrimination. Even at an organizational level, medical training can create different models of education that set the path for future careers. The impact of these factors has been particularly noticeable in 2020, as events related to under-represented individuals have called into question the ways in which health professional education addresses race and ethnic inequalities.
Can intersectionality help with understanding and tackling health inequalities? Perspectives of professional stakeholders by Daniel Holman et al.
What is intersectionality and why is it important in oral health research?The concept of “intersectionality” is increasingly employed within public health arenas, particularly in North America, and is often heralded as ofering great potential to advance health inequalities research and action.
Given persistently poor progress towards tackling health inequalities, and recent calls to reframe this agenda in the United Kingdom and Europe, the possible contribution of intersectionality deserves attention. Yet, no existing research has examined professional stakeholder understandings and perspectives on applying intersectionality to this field. In this paper, we contribute to flling this gap by exploring professional stakeholder understandings, perspectives and experiences.
Latent variable and clustering methods in intersectionality research: systematic review of methods applications by Greta R. Bauer et al.
An intersectionality framework has been increasingly incorporated into quantitative study of health inequity, to incorporate social power in meaningful ways. Researchers have identified “person-centered” methods that cluster within-individual characteristics as appropriate to intersectionality. We aimed to review their use and match with theory.
Intersectionality in Quantitative Health Disparities Research: A Systematic Review of Challenges and Limitations in Empirical Studies by Lexi Harari
The text discusses a systematic review of quantitative health disparities research that employs intersectionality as a theoretical tool to investigate how social characteristics intersect to generate health inequality. The review found that while intersectionality has value in the study of health disparities, the existing research struggles with meeting intersectionality's fundamental assumptions, and there is a need to collect and examine data that overcomes these limitations to achieve health equality among diverse intersectional groups.
Understanding unequal ageing: towards a synthesis of intersectionality and life course analyses by Daniel Holman et al.
The main aim of this paper is to illustrate how intersectionality might be synthesised with a life course perspective to deliver new insights into unequal ageing, especially with respect to health.
Desperately Seeking Intersectionality in Digital Health Disparity Research: Narrative Review to Inform a Richer Theorization of Multiple Disadvantage by Laiba Husain
This study aimed to review the literature on how multiple disadvantage—specifically, older age, lower socioeconomic status, and limited English proficiency—has been conceptualized, theorized, and studied empirically in relation to digital consultations. We focused mainly on video consultations as they have wider disparities than telephone consultations and relevant data on e-consultations are sparse.
Understanding the Intersectionality of Risk Factors of Hypertensive Disorders of Pregnancy in Women of African and Caribbean Descent in High-Income Countries – A Scoping Review by D. Baiden et al.
Women of African and Caribbean descent in high income countries have a high risk of hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) in comparison to women of other races and ethnicities. Intersectionality as a conceptual framework provides a deeper understanding of the intersection of multifactorial identities in health outcomes. This review explored current evidence on risk factors for HDP in women of African and Caribbean descent living in high income countries and described the interaction of these risk factors using the conceptual framework of intersectionality.
Disability, Intersectionality, Child Welfare and Child Protection: Research Representations by Cate Thomas
Considerations of the disability community within child welfare generally and the child protection sector specifically are well-served using an intersectional analytical lens. We aimed to determine how intersectionality is listed in the child welfare literature in the context of disability and to describe how and to what extent researchers integrate, embed, and engage intersectionality in the conduct of their research.
Intersectionality and the CRPD: an analysis of the CRPD committee’s discourse and civil society advocacy at the intersections of disability and LGBTI by Kirichenko, Kseniya A. et al.
The United Nation (‘UN’) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (‘CRPD’ or ‘Convention’), while addressing some intersectionalities, does not explicitly mention sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC). However, the practice of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (‘CteeRPD’ or ‘Committee’) has developed significantly over the past years to include the intersections of disability and SOGIESC into the discourse. This paper examines these developments from a queer intersectional perspective based on the document analysis.
Relationship between intersectionality and cancer inequalities: a scoping review protocol by Mar Estupiñán Fdez de Mesa
Persistent inequalities in cancer care and cancer outcomes exist within and between countries. However, the evidence pertaining to the root causes driving cancer inequalities is mixed. This may be explained by the inadequate attention paid to experiences of patients with cancer living at the intersection of multiple social categories (eg, social class, ethnicity). This is supported by the intersectionality framework. This framework offers an alternative lens through which to analyse and understand how these interlocking systems of oppression uniquely shape the experiences of patients with cancer and drive inequalities
Intersectionality in cancer care: A systematic review of current research and future directions by Joseph Kelly-Brown
The objective of the current review was to synthesize the literature on intersectionality relative to disparities across the cancer care continuum. A model to support future intersectional cancer research was proposed.
Intersectionality and heart failure: what clinicians and researchers should know and do by Saleema Allana et al.
Intersectionality challenges approaches that focus on a single or small number of socio-demographic characteristics, such as sex or age. Instead, approaches should take account of the nature and effects of a full range of socio-demographic factors linked to privilege, including: race and ethnicity, social class, income, age, gender identity, disability, geography, and immigration status. Although credible and well established across many fields – there is limited recognition of the effects of intersectionality in research into heart disease, including heart failure. This deficiency is important because heart failure remains a common and burdensome syndrome that requires complex pharmacological and nonpharmacological care and collaboration between health professionals, patients and caregivers during and at the end-of-life.
What is intersectionality and why is it important in oral health research? by Vanessa Elaine Muirhead et al.
The distribution of life chance opportunities is affected by an individual's race and ethnicity, gender, socio-economic status, sexuality, nationality and citizenship status, and (dis)ability status.1, 2 These elements of social identity are consistently associated with multiple determinants of health, including oral health outcomes and access to dental services.3, 4 Despite significant progress in identifying which social identities influence the oral health of individuals and populations, oral health research has largely overlooked the interrelationship among these social identities and how these interrelationships produce health outcomes. The tendency has been to examine “variables” such as race and ethnicity, gender, sexuality and class in isolation.5, 6 Rather than viewing each of these social categories as separate entities, Hulko7 contends that it is the “entanglement of identities that makes up an individual”.