English

Three Wodaabe women from Niger

Noun

intersectionality ‎(countable and uncountable, plural intersectionalities)

1. The quality or state of being intersectional, that is, of being characterized by intersection (especially of multiple forms of discrimination).

   the intersectionality of these issues; the intersectionality of gender, class, ethnicity, age, generation, marital status, and place of origin

2. The study of (or a sociological methodology of studying) overlapping or intersecting social identities and related systems of oppression, domination, or discrimination.
   • 1989, Kimberlé [Williams] Crenshaw, “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics”, in The University of Chicago Legal Forum, volume 139, archived from the original on 6 May 2016, page 141:

     One way to approach the problem of intersectionality is to examine how courts frame and interpret the stories of Black women plaintiffs.

Related terms

• intersectionalism
• intersectional

Translations