User:Judith gtrz/sandbox

Intersectionality
Intersectionality is the interconnection of social categorizations as they apply to different groups or individuals. These categorizations create a platform for interconnecting systems of discrimination to take place and to be individually recognized as specific issues. Movements around women’s rights originally stem from the overarching goal to tackle inequality among men and women as seen in the early development of the National Organization for Women (NOW). Though more progressive movements have flourished from the original effort to address issues of inequality between men and women, the overall women’s rights movement still relies on one voice to represent all those fighting for gender equality, predominantly the voice of the white woman. Thus creating a narrative that a woman's fight for equality is limited to fighting for access to education, the right to engage in politics, access to health care and family planning, and more. In other words, issues that are specific to all female-identifying beings. However, the idea that inequality within the feminist movement is gender-specific undermines the experiences of otherwise non-white straight women. Around the 1960’s, the women’s rights movement and the civil rights movement simultaneously coexisted, leading discussions of advocacy for intersecting identities for the women of color who were also involved in the women’s rights movement. Many of the previous suffragist efforts were led by white middle class women and were very successful in their push for women's right to vote like men. Yet, their perspective on experiences of discrimination of all women is narrowed by their own specific experiences as white women. Therefore, intersectionality is a key part of the Women's Rights movement, for it includes the stories of women from various backgrounds.

In addressing the concept of intersectionality and the discrimination women of color face for being women and of color, American Civil Rights Advocate Kimberle Crenshaw explores the dimensions of race and gender in her piece "Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color". She explains that the experiences of women of color are usually composed of patterns of both sexism and racism - experiences that are not fully represented in feminist movement. Because while the Women's Rights movement focuses on representing "woman" as one body, incidents of racism and sexism that women of color face - specifically black women - fall through the cracks. It is unacceptable to assume that all women experience the same forms of discrimination simply because they are women. By recognizing gender identities and race identities in as individual concepts, it becomes easier to understand the violences individual women face.