Concretely, what is intersectionality?

We can still be feminists today without taking into account theintersectionality ? Reading grid used in the social sciences and theorized at the end of the 1980s, allows us to take into account the numerous forms of discrimination that women may suffer, beyond sexism. For those who are not sociologists, let’s decipher what it is in three points concretely intersectionality.

At the origins: a text of legal analysis

To understand where the concept of discord comes from, we have to go back to 1989 in the United States, when Kimberle Crenshawjurist and black feminist publishes a legal article that seeks to understand why black women find it difficult to get the courts to recognize the discrimination they suffer in the workplace.

Tell the story ofEmma DeGraffenreid, which, in 1976, filed suit against General Motors. There, neither black jobs nor women’s jobs were available to black women. One gripe archivedon the grounds that black women couldn’t fight at the same time racial discrimination and gender discrimination.

Crenshaw then highlights the need to set up an intersectional reading grid, which shows the specificity of the discrimination suffered by black women, and more generally by racialized women in the United States.

Why is there so much talk about intersectionality in France?

While the concept quickly gained traction in black feminist circles in France, it was from the mid-2010s that it became known to the general public. For better or for worse. Because it won’t be long before he is denigrated by some French politicians.

In 2020, Jean-Michel Blanquer, then Minister of National Education, decided to fight against ” intersectional theses “. According to him, they want essentialize communities » and would be at the origin of a « fragmentation of our society and of a worldview that converges with the interests of Islamists. ” Just that.

In its image, some right-wing intellectuals or even polemicists vehemently criticize the concept. Because attached to the principle of French universalism, which would like every individual to be born in France without distinction of race, class or gender. The intersectionality would then be a enemy, who would like to destroy the republican order. As a reminder, the concept originally exists for analyze the fact that women suffer various systemic discriminations at the same time.

An essential tool for thinking about feminism

Although the concept may be particularly criticized by so-called “universalist” feminists, the reading grid intersectional it is essential today to think about struggles, about integration other systems of oppression such as race, gender and class.

Because while they may be invisible to certain struggles, some are at the intersection of multiple systems of oppression, such as racialized and lesbian women, racialized and transgender women… So many combinations that demonstrate that women can be victims of multiple systemic oppressions.

An evolution of intersectionality that Kimberlé Crenshaw herself described in 2015 in an article on theWashington Post. According to her, if the concept was theorized especially for women of color, now it’s important that it is inclusivefor everyone :

“Racialised people in LGBTQ+ movements, women in immigration movements, trans women in feminist movements and disabled people fighting police brutality – all of these people face vulnerabilities which reflect the intersections between racism, sexism, classism, transphobia, ableism, etc. »

Kimberlé Crenshaw, in the Washington Post, in 2015.

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