The Term Intersectionality

I first came across the phrase "intersectionality" on Twitter when I saw a lady identify herself as an intersectional feminist. However, until I took the class over the winter, I was unable to understand what she meant. I am here to clarify what it exactly means for everyone who is wondering what it means. A person may be threatened by prejudice if their identification coincides with certain minority classes, including those for gender, color, health, and ethnicity, among others. This is according to sociological theory (Clarke & McCall, 2013). It is also defined as the fact of what we see as different forms of oppression such as classism, racism, xenophobia and sexism which are all mutually independent as well as a natural intersect which when combined, forms the system of oppression (Gines, 2015). Most of other today’s theorists approach the term differently by including other things such as age, religion, ability, culture, ethnicity and looks among others in their definition. The definition is allowed to be dynamic due to the various arising discrimination reasons.

The issues have been happening right at my neighbor’s family, but I could not understand it as intersectionality. Afaf is a disabled and married woman; her husband is harsh and regularly shouts at her, the freedom she deserves is significantly trimmed. She accepted the situation and decided to coup with it, not until one day the husband went too far when he came home with fury from his friend who had not paid back his debt. To let go the anger, he used to hit some items like electronics and other home objects. Well, after arrival, what he found close was his wife to whom he has never respected. In Pakistan, a large number of women are viewed as properties and men can do with them as they wish. They can divorce, fight or even confidently threaten. The matter was worse because Afaf was disabled. For many years she lived under the husband's abuse. Where were the feminist groups that could at least raise a voice for her? That is a question that rang in the mind of every individual. Leave alone the organizations, why didn’t the neighboring women at least advocate for her? I could not tell by then. The husband here had to release his fury to the wife, oh No, things have changed already, Afaf was not ready for that tackle, and she had to do something beyond the usual.

She responded by hitting the husband with a stone; it was painful actually; the man had to relax and contemplate first before taking more actions. Many people saw Afaf as a disgraceful woman even when she was fighting for her life. I was young, but I could understand her, what bothered me later is the fact that people overlooked the husband’s mistake and laid the burden on the woman. Even the fellow woman could not understand her, at least she taught someone a lesson. She had to either divorce or go some punishment process referred as cleansing. I have grown believing that women don’t have equal rights as men primarily due to the level of oppression they face in Pakistan. Here, the situation was different; maybe it is because she had a fractured leg, I felt compassion for her. In our society, women should never respond adversely with the same magnitude or even hurt men. They are just properties subjected to tilting in whichever side the man wants.

Later, I realized that Afaf had decided to divorce, she went and joined some feminism group ready to fight for women’s rights. My question remains, why would such feminist groups wait until it is too long? Historically, feminist movements are known to neglect the experiences and stories of some disadvantaged women especially those who did not grow in middle-class families and this is the reason as to why we need the intersectionality (Moodley & Graham, 2015). It is a fundamental model in the intellectual field and in the extensive contexts of social justice operations. Its difficulty arises because of many complexities involved in the building of the multidimensional conceptualization which explains the means in that the socially constructed differentiation category interacts to develop a social ladder. For example, it holds no extraordinary identity experience. Instead of understanding the women’s health through the gender, it considers other social aspects of class, race and ability. It needs to have a better perception of the women’s concerns about health. Theories workers can offer help to the researchers in perceiving the frictions between great social differences and ensure no overlooking.

A lot has to be done in Pakistan; intersectionality is a very crucial tool within this country and can help secure disabled women's rights regardless of their intersecting identity and help them get equal treatment as the others. It is vital in that it understands the differences between women and promise to deal with the exclusions. It also sheds light on hidden mechanisms of oppression and powers. Disabled women require protection from discrimination and violence they encounter on a daily basis. I believe that the next feminist move would to recognize such people and give them say.



















References

Clarke, A. Y., & McCall, L. (2013). Intersectionality and social explanation in social science research. Du Bois review: Social science research on race, 10(2), 349-363.Gines, K. T. (2015).

Moodley, J., & Graham, L. (2015). The importance of intersectionality in disability and gender studies. Agenda, 29(2), 24-33.

Gines, K. T. (2015). Ruminations on twenty-five years of Patricia Hill Collins's Black feminist thought: Knowledge, consciousness and the politics of empowerment. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 38(13), 2341-2348..