Intersectionality is a Pivotal Tool to Decolonize Feminism

By Swagata Sen – Founder of Rights of Equality, Co-founder of The 51% Minority

As someone who was a closeted feminist for many years, I had a sense of immense relief after moving from India to the USA in 2018 as it was the first time I felt safe and empowered enough to embrace feminism openly. 

In my view, the enormous discrimination and oppression that I witnessed as a child made me question the norms and stereotypes around gender. I started using a gendered lens in everything when I was a little girl. For many years, I nurtured a precious, secret dream in my heart – one day I will defy. One day I will speak out. One day I will take a stand. But, that day never came in the true sense. Years of subjugation, fear, and conditioning took precedence.  

Moving to the San Francisco Bay area made that dream come true. I created Rights of Equality, started actively writing against patriarchy and gender discrimination, and identified myself as a feminist activist. Since then I have had the opportunity to interact and engage with many feminists worldwide. I have attended many workshops, training, events, and programs focused on women’s rights and empowerment. 

After the initial excitement faded away, I started feeling a sense of disconnect, not necessarily disagreement, with some other feminists I interacted with. It was a sense of not belonging. As if they were using a very narrow lens to view the problems faced by women, and it felt like the lens was that of privilege and superiority. In their discourse of feminism, the issues faced by marginalized women or women from racially and socio-economically underprivileged backgrounds were missing. 

Since then, I invested a significant amount of time in understanding the consequences of privileged feminists refusing ( consciously or unconsciously) to use an intersectional approach in their work and practice. 

In this piece, I am going to flesh out how this behavior hurts women and women’s rights movements, especially those who are racially or socially marginalized. 

What is intersectionality? 

Intersectionality is based on the philosophy that our identities are hybrid and our experience of oppression and discrimination depends on a combination of different factors including race, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic class, physical ability, neurodiversity, etc., etc. Intersectionality is also about accepting that we live in a hierarchical social system and as women we all do not face an equal amount of oppression. 

The term intersectional feminism was first coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw in the late 1980s. Intersectional feminism has since become a cornerstone of feminist theory and activism, challenging traditional feminist perspectives that centered primarily on the experiences of privileged, white women. 

Intersectional feminism acknowledges the diversity of women’s experiences and challenges, rejecting one-size-fits-all approaches to feminism. It centers the voices and perspectives of marginalized women, including women of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, disabled women, and others who have historically been marginalized within mainstream feminist movements.

Why Intersectional Feminism is Important?

Feminism doesn’t denote a single ideology but is a combination of several principles and beliefs based on the overarching idea of equality and equal rights for all. Feminist movements and their goals might vary based on the social, political, and historical contexts of issues, which vary from one group to another. 

Most marginalized women combat multiple oppressive systems in their lifetime including racism, misogyny, capitalism, and patriarchy. A majority of these powerful institutions strive to silence their voices and exclude their experiences from mainstream society to maintain the status quo. 

Feminism calls for dismantling the inherent imbalance in the power structure in society, and as far as I understand, all feminists must be intersectional to accomplish that goal and ensure the voices of marginalized people are heard. 

How Does Lack of Intersectionality Hurt Women from Marginalized Backgrounds?

It Perpetuates Existing Power Imbalance and Colonialism:

Many internationally well-known feminist leaders are often privileged feminist. When they disregard the experience and perspectives of black, indigenous, and other minority women, and assert their views and perspectives as the mainstream dominant feminism, it reinforces existing power imbalance within the society. It dismisses the experiences and perspectives of women from marginalized or less privileged backgrounds. 

If privileged feminists don’t check their racial privilege while addressing feminist issues, they end up perpetuating white supremacy and endorsing colonial rhetorics that are counteractive to the fundamental feminist ideology. 

Privileged feminism also tends to be Western-centric and may overlook the experiences of women in non-Western countries. This approach ignores the diverse struggles and achievements of women all over the world and fails to engage with global feminist movements. Sometimes they represent the issues faced by the women in the global South in a way that harms instead of helping them. While I agree that our life experience is responsible to a great extent for shaping our views, it is crucial to acknowledge our privileges for dismantling the global power imbalance. 

It Results in Tokenism in Feminism:

In some cases, privileged feminist engage in tokenism by featuring women from marginalized backgrounds superficially or using their voices to advance the agenda of privileged women without addressing their unique concerns. Tokenism in feminism occurs when individuals from marginalized groups are included merely as symbolic gestures, without genuine representation or acknowledgment of their experiences and perspectives. Women of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, and women from marginalized socioeconomic backgrounds are often tokenized within feminist spaces. It reduces individuals to mere symbols of diversity, obscuring the structural barriers they face and perpetuating inequality within feminist discourse.

One manifestation of tokenism is the selective amplification of voices within feminist movements. Token individuals may be given platforms to speak, but their perspectives are often marginalized or dismissed, overshadowed by the dominant narratives of privileged groups. This selective elevation of voices reinforces existing power dynamics and fails to address the intersecting forms of oppression faced by marginalized women. Furthermore, tokenism can lead to the exploitation of marginalized individuals for the benefit of the movement, without genuine recognition of their contributions or agency.

It Ends Up Being Performative Activism in Feminism:

Sometimes privileged feminists engage in performative activism on issues faced by marginalized and racialized women primarily for public display or personal gain, rather than genuine commitment to social change. In the age of social media, performative activism has become increasingly prevalent, with individuals and organizations prioritizing optics over substantive action. This phenomenon is particularly damaging within feminism, as it dilutes the movement’s objectives and commodifies activism for personal branding or virtue signaling. Performative activists may prioritize self-promotion and image management over tangible efforts to address systemic injustices, ultimately undermining the effectiveness of feminist activism.

Conclusion

The lack of an intersectional approach and a lack of commitment to dismantling the existing power imbalance pose significant challenges to the advancement of feminist goals and the creation of an inclusive movement. By excluding marginalized voices, tokenizing disadvantaged individuals, and engaging in performative displays of activism, privileged feminists often risk perpetuating existing power imbalances and erasing the diverse experiences of women from marginalized backgrounds. Furthermore, these practices undermine the credibility of the feminist movement, alienating potential allies and reinforcing stereotypes about feminist activism as superficial or insincere. This not only hinders progress toward gender equality but also perpetuates intersecting forms of oppression based on race, class, sexuality, and other axes of identity.

Rights of Equality | Promoting Gender Equality & Women’s Rights

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