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

From American critical legal race scholar Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw

Intersectionality suggests that individuals frequently encounter barriers as a result of their intersecting social identities. It is essential to recognize the diverse identities and characteristics of individuals and identify the specific inequalities they experience in their daily lives.

The concept had been employed in feminist work on how women are simultaneously positioned as women and, for example, as black, working-class, lesbian or colonial subjects.

( Phoenix and Pattynama, 2006) 

Bibliography

Phoenix, A. & Pattynama, P. (2006) Intersectionality. European journal of women’s studies. [Online] 13 (3), 187–192.

The Scottish Government (2023) Using intersectionality to understand structural inequality in Scotland: Evidence synthesis, Scottish Government. Available at: https://www.gov.scot/publications/using-intersectionality-understand-structural-inequality-scotland-evidence-synthesis/pages/3/ (Accessed: 25 July 2024).