Jenifer Kim expounds intersectionality as the disadvantages in the interaction with others brought about by peoples’ diversity. In this case, the difference in race, gender, ethnicity or any other factor restricting peoples’ inclusion. On the other hand, Collins and Bilge (67), defines it as the oppression brought about by the lack of interconnection of racism, homophobia, ableism, xenophobia, class, and sexism at the institution level. In her analysis, Kim argues that, despite the need for inclusion in the American workplaces, there is a peculiar inclination on specific factions of the society hence broadening the same problem being solved. For instance, she claims that, while statistics show that women make 72 cents for every dollar, this discriminates against the true picture that women of color actually earn far much less than that (Kim). Kim laments singular focus of diversity and inclusion as ‘gender’ without taking into consideration other subsets of the population. Moreover, she claims that the “women first” strategy is among the reasons the inequality gap is rapidly increasing. Basically, despite companies putting more focus into helping women, very few individuals are willing to talk about the race factor.
Kim’s concept of intersectionality advocates that, for equity to be homogeneously achieved at the workplace, “compassion, curiosity, continual introspection,” should be inculcated to ensure other people’s experiences are systematically examined despite it creating an uncomfortable feeling. In this case, she champions for the understanding of people’s multiple identities such as color, race, disability, LGBTQ, and immigration. In this case, she believes that equality will actually be achieved rather than replacing one problem with another.
Kim’s article complicates the “Female Power” article for the Economist based from the singular focus on females alone in the rich world at the expense of other diversity factors such as women of color, women living with disability and race. The Economist article focuses on feministic perspective as a major player in the achievement of women equity in most countries. In this case, it cites the introduction family planning, increased incentives in women’s higher education, increased demands for women’s labor, and politics as the driving forces for gender equity in the labor country. As Kim depicts the current fight to equality as a replacement of one problem for another, the Economist article proves this by indicating the loss of jobs for men as more women are absorbed hence glorifying the “women first” ideology. However, Kim believes that a broader and homogeneous intersectionality should take into consideration other factors apart from gender. For instance, the Economist article does not highlight the percentage for the women of color advancing to better jobs in the labor force. Other social-economic factors such as women from poorer backgrounds have also not been factored in in the evaluation of their growth in regards to the women economic empowerment.
Despite, the “Female Power” article highlighting pleasant statistics of how women are breaking the glass ceiling, the smaller details are leading to even bigger and even more complex inequalities. For instance, having black women work for white women with the message of “wait your turn”, which changes the focus on women empowerment to just “white women empowerment (Kim). However, the family and reproduction aspect bring homogeneity since it covers women from all backgrounds, color, and races (Celis, Severs and Woodward 83). However, this does not dispute the fact that the pay gap, child care facilities, and social-economic factors still broaden the disparity between the whites and blacks. Therefore, the consequences of these strategy prolong the inequality for the next 50 years.
Work Cited
Celis, Karen, et al. Intersectionality.
Academia Pr Scientific Pub, 2016. Print.
Collins, Patricia Hill, and Sirma Bilge. Intersectionality.
Cambridge: Massachusetts: Polity Press, 2018. print.
"Female Power". The Economist, 2018, https://www.economist.com/briefing/2009/12/30/female- power. Accessed 27 Sept 2018.
Kim, Jennifer. Intersectionality. California: Medium, 2018. document.
