Academic literature on the topic 'Intersectional feminist theory'

This thesis explores how introducing intersectional theory to self-identified activists in a Swedish folkbildning context challenges the theory/practice-divide. The study has been carried out through thematically structured discussions with students and teachers at Kvinnofolkhögskolan, Gothenburg, Sweden. In this thesis I argue that the deconstruction of the theory/practice-divide is dependent on perceptions of what theory and practice entails, students’ expectations of Swedish folkbildning in general and Kvinnofolkhögskolan in particular and pedagogical considerations on how to teach intersectionality intersectionally.Additionally, the thesis addresses issues of institutionalization, feminist pedagogy and the broadening of intersectional theory. Finally, the thesis highlights the need for extensively addressing the issue of the theory/practice divide in the curriculum, for students and teachers to discuss what is perceived as theory and practice respectively and for teachers to consider time and place as part of an intersectionally aware pedagogical practice.

This dissertation is a multi-methodological project that examines the experiences of being both LGBTQ+ and disabled from an intersectional perspective through narratives constructed in virtual spaces. In this project, I address the question ‘how do individuals who identify as both disabled/chronically ill and LGBTQ+ negotiate these often contradictory identities?’ I also complexify this intersectional analysis by examining how LGBTQ+/disabled identities are constructed in relation to race, class, and gender. Additionally, by conducting virtual ethnography as the primary method of data collection, I explore questions pertaining to how members of LBGTQ+ and disability online communities engage in virtual identity construction and virtual community building. Through these projects I seek to bring disability and LGBTQ+ identities into the intersectionality literature and discourse that has frequently excluded, and at times even ignored, these positionalities.

This thesis seeks to explore how two governmental documents discuss earlier preventions of criminality. The two documents analyzed are the Female Offender Strategy and The Government’s Approach to Crime Prevention. The first of these documents main aim is to provide a more gender sensitive approach to the criminal justice system within the United Kingdom and the latter document does not explicitly differ between the genders. The analysis will be carried out with the use of feminist pathways theory and through an intersectional lens, in order to demonstrate how the two documents discuss earlier prevention of criminality. By utilizing the methodology of What’s the Problem Represented to be (WPR) the aim is to demonstrate who benefits from the documents and who is relegated to the sidelines. Neither of the two documents demonstrate a strategy or policy which takes into account the many varying identities which exist amongst the inmate population of the criminal justice system.

Cette thèse applique le concept analytique d’ « inégalité intersectionnelle des genres » à l’analyse des implications du développement du secteur privé du care sur les inégalités structurelles fondées sur le genre, la classe et la race en France et en Allemagne. Je pose la question suivante : les politiques publiques régissant le secteur du care renforcent-elles les inégalités intersectionnelles par leur manque de compréhension des phénomènes de discrimination intersectionnelle ? Dans quelle mesure les politiques publiques dans les domaines de l’immigration, de l’emploi, de la famille et de l’égalité professionnelle entre hommes et femmes prennent-elles en compte l’intersection des désavantages structurels ? J’aborde la notion d’ « égalité des genres » d’un point de vue intersectionnel dans le sens où la catégorie « femme » est envisagée comme un groupe hétérogène et non universel. Les inégalités au sein de cette catégorie sont donc au centre de l’attention. Le transfert du travail reproductif des femmes employées sur le marché du travail formel à d’autres femmes en situation marginale pose des questions de hiérarchie basée sur la classe et sur la race à l’intérieur de la catégorie ‘femmes’. Ma problématique pourrait donc être reformulée comme suit : Comment les politiques promouvant le développement des services de care privés influencent-elles l’égalité entre les hommes et les femmes, et l’égalité entre les femmes ? Une analyse approfondie des politiques discursives et des cadres politiques liés aux problèmes du care et de l’égalité des genres a permis de comprendre les diverses représentations et constructions de ces questions politiques. La recherche conclut que les divers cadres discursifs des problèmes politiques de l’égalité des genres, de l’immigration et de l’emploi dans le secteur du care ont un impact direct sur la formulation des politiques publiques se rapportant au travail du care, ce qui perpétue un processus de discrimination que je décrit en conceptualise comme inégalité intersectionnelle des genres<br>This dissertation applies the analytical concept of “intersectional gender inequality” to the analysis of the implications of the development of private care for gender, class and racial structural inequalities in France and Germany. I ask: how do public policies pertaining to social care – in their current formulation – reinforce intersectional inequalities because of their disregard or lack of understanding of intersectional discrimination? To what extent do migration, labor market, family, and gender equality policies frame and address intersectional disadvantage? The transfer of reproductive work from women employed on the formal labor market to other marginalized women poses questions of hierarchy based on racism and classism within the group “women.” My research question could be reformulated as: How do policies promoting the development of personal care services influence equality between men and women, and equality between women? I undertook an in-depth analysis of the intricate relationships between white supremacy, class exploitation and patriarchy and examined how these systems of domination impact on gender inequality. The analysis of discursive politics and policy frames related to the issue of care and gender equality allowed an understanding of the various representations and constructions of the political issues and of the people affected by it.The discourses developed in relation to the above-mentioned policies reflect particular representations of the interrelated problems of gender inequality, labor shortages in the care sector, and immigration, as well as the solutions brought forward to solve them. Using critical frame analysis, this dissertation addresses the intersectional representation (or lack thereof) of racialized women in policies, laws and discourses pertaining to social care. Drawing from this, the specific structural discrimination of racialized women on the labor market will be analyzed.The research reveals that the discursive framing of the policy issues of gender inequality, immigration and employment in care impact on the formulation of policies pertaining to care work, which in turn sustain a discrimination pattern that I describe and conceptualize as intersectional gender inequality

Thesis advisor: David Blustein<br>This qualitative study explored the experiences of women going through a welfare-to-work program in a northeastern setting. Specifically, the women's identities as mothers, women of color, and women living in poverty were examined. Feminist and critical theory informed the research questions and literature review. Qualitative description and content analysis were used to analyze the data from 10 interviews. The concepts that emerged described the women's experiences going through the program, their identity as mothers and caregivers, the negative psychological experiences and impact of going through the system, feeling labeled and misunderstood, obstacles and barriers to success, forms of resilience and resistance, and their relationship with work. Four major inferences were gleaned from the results: the need to integrate the experience of motherhood/caregiving more explicitly into WTW, the need for more attention to mental health concerns, an alarming level of corruption and corruption within the welfare system itself, and a dialectical struggle between the theoretical and practical experience of work and employment. Implications for practice, policy, and research are discussed<br>Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2008<br>Submitted to: Boston College. Lynch School of Education<br>Discipline: Counseling, Developmental, and Educational Psychology