Intersectionality

Intersectionality refers to the clash of multiple forms of structural discrimination. The term was coined in the 1980s by attorney Kimberlé Crenshaw, who used it to draw attention to multiple discrimination in the form of racism and sexism against Black women. Crenshaw was approached with a case in which Emma DeGraffanreid, an African American woman, sued an automobile company that refused to hire her because she was a Black woman. The court dismissed the suit, however, because the company employed Blacks and women: yet the Blacks were consistently men who worked in repair shops, and the women were employed as white secretaries. Legally, these forms of discrimination were intangible for a long time because these specific disadvantages were only considered separately, which made it almost impossible to recognize multiple discrimination.