GRSJ224/Intersectionality

Overview of Intersectionality

Intersectionality is defined as the study or concept of discriminatory or oppressive structures and institutions and their impacts on marginalized groups, and the ways in which these structures are interconnected. The theory of intersectionality aims to explore and address the different axes of oppression, such as race, gender, class, caste, and ability. This concept recognizes that oppressive institutions do not act independently, but are instead interrelated and continuously shaped by one another (8).

Essentially, intersectionality shed lights on the realities of oppression and privilege and demonstrates that discrimination or oppression is experienced differently even within marginalized groups (1).

Intersectionality is often discussed within the context of feminism and intersections of gender with other axes of oppression. The concept’s founding was centered within the feminist context as activist Kimberlé Crenshaw in coined the term in 1989 after a lawsuit was raised against Ford General Motors for employing both sexism and racism in laying off its black female employees (8).

The concept has gained popularity within the realm of feminism, as women fighting the same battle again gender-based discrimination and inequality are beginning to recognize that not all women experience the same levels of discrimination, and that factors like race, ethnicity, class, and ability can have significant impacts on the barriers to equality (2).

Poverty in Canada

Despite popular belief, poverty is a significant issue in Canada, and disproportionately affects marginalized groups. In particular, poverty has greater impacts on Indigenous peoples, people of colour, women, and people with disabilities.

Poverty has no strict definition in Canada and this makes it challenging to take actions to remediate the impacts of poverty within marginalized communities. Moreover, without defining poverty, the government as well as other institutions and organizations fail to understand the root causes of poverty and cannot provide meaningful, long-term solutions (4).

A constructive way of thinking about poverty is recognizing it as a lack of resources – not only the ones that are necessary for survival, but the ones which allow individuals and communities to thrive and prosper.

Many individuals and families struggle to lift themselves out of poverty and this is a result of generational factors that allow poverty to persist, primarily this same lack of resources. Resources can include financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, and physical resources as well as support systems, relationships, role models, and knowledge of hidden rules. A lack of these resources has been directly correlated to low achievement and low socioeconomic status, especially because poverty has direct impacts on the academic achievement of youth and access to opportunities that allow for personal and professional development (12).

Intersections of Race & Gender in the Context of Poverty

These resources are often less accessible within marginalized communities, and coupled with the long history of oppression that many of these groups have faced, this allows the cycle of poverty to persist for generations (15).

In order to understand this, it is important to take a look at the data which acknowledges the members and groups of society who are most likely to experience poverty as well as those who are particularly susceptible to its effects.

To visualize this, consider these statistics:

• People living with disabilities, both physical and mental, are twice as likely to live below the poverty line.
• Nearly 15% of people with disabilities live in poverty. Of this group, 59% are also women.
• Approximately 45% of Canada’s homeless population is comprised of individuals living with a disability or mental illness.
• Indigenous Peoples (including First Nations, Métis, and Inuit peoples) are overrepresented among the homeless population in virtually all urban centres in Canada. 28%-34% of shelter users are Indigenous.
• 1 in 5 racialized families live in poverty in Canada, as opposed to 1 in 20 non-racialized families.
• Overall, racialized women earn 32% less at work.

These statistics are valuable because they help create an understanding of the challenges that marginalized groups face, and the sorts of barriers that allow the cycle of poverty to persist within their communities (4).

Race & Poverty

Racialized communities have experienced a long history of oppression and continue to face discrimination and high levels of inequality in opportunity, treatment, and respect. For example, Canada’s Indigenous community has faced years of violence, mistreatment, and oppression as a result of settler-colonialism. Likewise, the Black community in North America continues to face structural inequalities as a result of the systemic racism stemming from colonialism and slavery. Both communities continue to face challenges and are often stereotyped negatively, as the root causes of much of their circumstances are overlooked.

These marginalized communities were deprived not only of equality, but also of the factors that would allow for their success including basic rights and freedoms, education, and property rights. This has resulted in large proportions of these communities living in poor socio-economic status and in low-income areas with little access to resources such as adequate healthcare, high quality schools and social programs, and career opportunities (9).

Deprivation of these sorts of resources can have lasting effects for generations and are incredibly difficult to undo with short-term policies and programs. Family economic conditions in early childhood appear to have a greater impact on the development of children later on in their lives than economic conditions during adolescence, particularly because of the nature of developmental tasks and sensitivity to change in this early period of a child’s life (3). This portion of a child’s life can have lasting impacts and can be passed on from generation to generation as these challenges continue to be faced in adulthood (7).

The effects of poverty are felt into adulthood, affecting work experiences and job opportunities. As well, children exposed to poverty are more likely to experience poorer parent-child relationships, greater family disruption, family and community violence, an inferior quality of education, and poorer nutrition. All of these issues can impact the development of children greatly, setting them back in the future – children who have grown up in poverty are afforded far less opportunities for success and are disproportionately less likely to have leadership positions in adulthood as their counterparts who grew up in middle to high income households (10).

It is necessary to recognize that the causes of poverty amongst many groups are directly tied to struggles related to race, gender, ability, caste, and class, and that a long history of oppression has had lasting impacts on these marginalized communities creating greater barriers to success and high inequality of opportunity which allows poverty to persist (6).

Gender & Poverty

Women have faced gender-based discrimination throughout all of history, and much like race-based discrimination, the effects of this are passed one from one generation to the next. In the fight against patriarchal institutions of oppression, women must recognize that privilege does exist amongst them and that women of different backgrounds experience discrimination in a variety of ways and to many extents (11).

Consider these facts:

• Poverty rates are higher amongst women than men.
• Women are paid less than men, even when they have the same qualifications and work the same hours.
• Women are poorer than men in all racial and ethnic groups.
• Women are segregated into low paying occupations, and occupations dominated by women are compensated significantly less than others.
• Women spend more time providing unpaid caregiving than men. As well, in (heterosexual) marriages or partnerships they engage in long hours of household labour as they hold the comparative advantage in this type of labour, since men continue to be compensated much higher for equivalent market labour and hold the comparative advantage there.
• Pregnancy affects women’s work and educational opportunities more than men’s. Women are often assumed to be less committed or dedicated to their careers and are not compensated or promoted nearly as much as men. This inequality in opportunity allows the cycle of poverty or at least financial instability to persist amongst women (5).

Women of Colour & the Cycle of Poverty

Considering the connections between race and gender within the context of poverty, it becomes clear that there exist a wide variety of challenges for women of colour within their communities, education, the professional world, and many aspects of society (14).

A valuable example that illustrates the cycle of poverty amongst women of colour is as follows:

Consider a young woman of colour, about the age of 18, who had been born into a low-income family. Education was inaccessible to her, primarily because of the high opportunity cost of pursuing school, when she could otherwise work and provide for her family financially. This young women then lacks the necessary skills to pursue a knowledge-based career which will provide generous compensation.

Instead, her best option is to marry young, since a man would be compensated more generously. If she were to become pregnant at this young age, it is likely that her body would not be fully developed to adequately carry her child. The young woman becomes undernourished during her pregnancy – a time where the body needs plenty of care. Likewise, her unborn child would also face some health issues such as undernourishment in the womb.

The burden of raising a child is a costly one, not only financially, but also in terms of effort and time. The young mother would then be unable to pursue education or a promising career, and would be relegated to a role as the household labourer, expected not only to be the child bearer but also the child caregiver.

The family could face challenges, and perhaps the mother may have to raise her young daughter alone, which would increase the financial burden. Alternatively, the young daughter may miss out on crucial developmental opportunities that could harm her future career prospects. As well, growing up in poverty means that this young girl of colour would be at risk of gender-based and race-based discrimination. This sort of discrimination would impact her confidence, self-esteem and general wellbeing, having lasting effects on her into adulthood.

While this example may seem far-fetched or extreme, the reality is that many of these social and economic factors can spur a long-lasting cycle that could take many years to undo. Even still, undoing these sorts of issues would be a case-by-case basis because the larger systems of oppression have not yet been dismantled and will continue to affect the greater population of individuals within marginalized communities (15).

Some feasible solutions that have been proposed within the realms of academia and activism include a basic universal income, social programs from a young age, restructuring regressive sales tax, affirmative action programs with more flexibility, and reparations for marginalized communities (9).

References

1. Alok, Nupur Preeti. (2017, March 24) "Intersectional Feminism 101: Why It's Important And What We Must Remember." Feminism in India. Web.

2. Amos, Valerie, and Pratibha Parmar. (1984) "Challenging Imperial Feminism." Feminist Review 17: 3-19. Web.

3. Barling, Julian, and Julie Weatherhead. (2017, May) "Lost leaders: How poverty erodes professional development." The Globe and Mail. The Globe and Mail, Web.

4. Canada Without Poverty. (2017). Poverty | Just the Facts. http://www.cwp-csp.ca/poverty/just-the-facts/

5. Cawthorne, A. (2008, October 08). The Straight Facts on Women in Poverty. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/women/reports/2008/10/08/5103/the-straight-facts-on-women-in-poverty/

6. Davis, Kathy. (2008) "Intersectionality as buzzword." Feminist Theory 9.1: 67-85. Web.

7. Duncan, G. J., Ziol-Guest, K. M. and Kalil, A. (2010), Early-Childhood Poverty and Adult Attainment, Behavior, and Health. Child Development, 81: 306–325. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2009.01396.x

8. "Feminism 101: What is Intersectional Feminism?" FEM. Web.

9. Grabb, E. G., Reitz, J. G., & Hwang, M. (2016). Social inequality in Canada: dimensions of disadvantage. Chapter 4: Poverty and Income Inequality in Canada., Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press.

10. Grabb, E. G., Reitz, J. G., & Hwang, M. (2016). Social inequality in Canada: dimensions of disadvantage. Chapter 7:Choose Your Parents Carefully: Social Class, Post-secondary Education, and Occupational Outcomes. Don Mills, Ontario: Oxford University Press.

11. Hobbs, Margaret H., and Carla Rice. (2013) Gender and Women's Studies in Canada: Critical Terrain. Toronto: Canadian Scholar Press. Web.

12. Lacour, Misty, and Laura D. Tissington (2011) "The effects of poverty on academic achievement." Educational Research and Reviews 6.7: 522-527.

13. Nash, Jennifer C. (2008) "Re-thinking intersectionality." Feminist Review 89.1: 1-15. Web.

14. Scott, Bonnie. (2016) Women in Culture: An Intersectional Anthology for Gender and Women's Studies. John Wiley & Sons.. Print.

15. Thaver, Emaan. (2016, November 16) "Feminism 101: The Importance of Intersectionality." Faze. Web.