INTERSECTIONALITY

• Though now a widely used buzzword, often considered out of its original context after its genesis in the work of Kimberlé Crenshaw, it is crucial to note that intersectionality is a methodology of praxis created by a Black woman, that encourages us to understand identity as it works within systems and institutions that have been developed inequitably and result in ongoing oppression. To understand this comprehensively, we must grasp that we have multiple, intersecting identities (e.g. gender, race, class, ethnicity, ability, language, nationality, education, etc.), each of which interact differently with the systems we live within to result in either privilege or marginalization, and always a combination of both on the basis of each person's intersecting identities.

• Single-focus approaches to workplace equity that take into account one identity (e.g. hiring practice revision on the basis of gender equity alone, and even that based on a binary idea of gender), result in a reinforcement of existing divisions. Non-intersectional approaches can also weaken existing efforts to create socially just workspaces.

• For example: creating policy and praxis surrounding responses to sexual violence within an organization without an intersectional approach can result in microaggressions experienced by survivors during the reporting process, as well as insufficient support for survivors who have the added experience of holding multiple marginalized identities.

The UNLRN PRJCT goal is to utilize intersectionality as a methodology to bring about social justice in working, community, and individual spaces.