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Studentsâ name Professor Course Date Intersectional Institutions and Inequality Intersectionality simply is the study of multiple intersecting forms of social oppression in which one groupâs injustice is built on the disadvantage of the other groups they oppress. It is the understanding of how social identities shape and reinforce each other, causing the effects of discrimination to be more complex rather than individual. Being able to analyze our own privilege or disadvantage helps understand the ways in which individuals are shaped by their identities, as well as the privileges they hold (Katherine et al. 334). It is important to recognize that intersectionality is not a theoretical concept that has no significance on people lives, nor is it some obscure idea that will never be applied in practice. Rather, intersectionality allows individuals to better understand how systems of power and privilege work together and affect people of different races, genders, sexualities, while minimizing their negative consequences. This framework can then provide insight into possible solutions for overcoming these inequalities. Intersectionality helps us understand complex social inequality in various ways such as the understanding of how race and gender, among others, work together to affect social inequalities. The idea was first introduced by legal scholar KimberlĂ© Crenshaw in 1989, who wrote that "Cisgendered, straight black women face barriers to justice that are not faced by white women and gay men." While the law often recognizes different forms of privilege for each group, this is not the full picture. For example, those who have historically been discriminated
against based on their race may still suffer from persistent racism today. Intersectionality means that people recognize the effects of our identities working together to oppress people into a situation where one do not have access to basic human rights (Katherine et al. 341). Intersectional theory accounts for inequality in an institution of the work force for women. It emphasizes how institutions in which individuals have membership are structured to produce inequality through their interactions among members of the institution. It also shows that inequality is a complex process, in which intersections between social identities affect experiences of oppression. For example, women and men experience differences in their positions within organizations because of the multiple inequalities that they hold, like those based on gender and race. Intersectionality applies to work institutions since they are structured by society to produce inequality in power, income and prestige among groups (Williams, Fiona 40). For example, there is a larger wage gap between men and women than there is between white and minority workers. The four domains of power are: economic resources, social status, political power and symbolic power. These domains of power have an impact on all other forms of power in society, including those that are socially constructed. In organizations, the intersection of these domains produces inequality between groups. Economic resources refers to access to money and other economic resources that can be used to obtain the things one need in life. Social status is how a person is seen by others outside the community. Political powers refers for peopleâs influence over policies and decisions at the organizational level or even community levels. The final domain is symbolic power, and it refers to the manner in which institutions perpetuate stereotypes about various groups (McKinzie et al. 245).
including discrimination, lower educational attainment and cultural values affecting attitudes toward work. Intersectionality is not defined by an individual; it is a way of understanding social inequality due to social identities and systems of oppression that intersect. A person who holds many different identities can be said to have intersectionality because there are categories or positions that a person is pressured into every day because he or she has identities and/or experiences that cause them to be oppressed in one or more ways by others. Under gender the intersecting systems of oppression at structural domain of power are: 1. CIS normativity and heteronormativity, 2. Patriarchy (men are superior) and institutionalized exclusion of women from the workplace, 3. Capitalism which is a system that promotes the exploitation of people making them dependent on the workplace to sustain them which leads to 4. Racism in the institution because of segregation and prejudice against women of color (McKinzie et al. 239). At the cultural domain, there is a small glimpse into how different groups have different experiences and reputations in society such as that black women are viewed as more masculine than their white counterparts or that black men are more sexualized than their white counterparts by using media as an example. At the disciplinary domain, black women are punished more severely by police officers, white women are often given lighter sentences and black men are seen as more threatening than white men (Yang et al. 87). At the interpersonal domain of power, black women are targeted by their employers for being too masculine or not feminine enough for their race and/or gender, but that black men are not targeted for being too masculine or not feminine enough for their race and/or gender. Gender is a major contributing factor to who we are as individuals. Within the context of employment and work, women of different races face challenges based on their identities that
lead to their inability to participate in the same workplace and earn their fair wages. Race is not only an individualâs personal identity, but it plays a role in how each employee is treated when trying to enter the job market. Thus, racialism plays an important role in the workplace because it influences both women and men, but affects them differently based on what structures they have experienced growing up. Women are seen as inferior to men is that they are less capable than men when it comes to certain jobs and responsibilities. For example, the job description for a CEO might not match the description for a woman. Race plays a role in everything from interpersonal relationships to discrimination which leads an individual into being oppressed by others once they are within the organization by other members of society or even those within that organization (Dill et al. 111). The strengths of applying intersectional perspective to gender are that it helps individuals to understand the various dimensions of oppression, thereby helping them to have a sense of empowerment and being able to use their lived experiences as knowledge of oppression. It can give people of different races and cultures a better understanding and appreciation for each other which can lead to improving racial/cultural relations within society. The weaknesses of applying an intersectional perspective to gender are that it is difficult to apply and is still used in different ways by different people, thus leading to a lack of understanding (Yang et al. 94). It is not applied in an effort to better the racial/cultural relations but is used to understand each race and culture in a way that can lead to either bettering or destroying the relationship between races and cultures. In conclusion, the idea that women of different races face challenges in the workplace due to their race that play a major role in their ability to earn their fair wages. Gender has different effects on people of each race (Dill et al 109). For example, race is a factor in an
Work Cited Dill, Bonnie Thornton, and Ruth Enid Zambrana. "Critical thinking about inequality: An emerging lens." Feminist Theory Reader. Routledge, 2020. 108-116. FewâDemo, April L., and Katherine R. Allen. "Gender, feminist, and intersectional perspectives: A decade in review." Journal of Marriage and Family 82.1 (2020): 326-345. McKinzie, Ashleigh E., and Patricia L. Richards. "An argument for contextâdriven intersectionality." Sociology Compass 13.4 (2019): e12671. Williams, Fiona. "Intersectionality, gender and social policy." Handbook on gender and social policy. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018. 37-54. Yang, Song, Brandon A. Jackson, and Anna Zajicek. "A changing landscape? An intersectional analysis of race and gender disparity in access to social capital." Sociological Spectrum 41.1 (2021): 80-95.
