Gender and Intersectionality

Our Point of View

Illustrative Examples

Video: Gender with Yasmin Madan & Jagdeesh Rao [July 2021]

Yasmin Madan (Director, Programs at Co-Impact) & Jagdeesh Rao (Entrepreneur in Residence, Omidyar Network India; Founding Chief Executive, Foundation for Ecological Security (FES) 2001 -2020)

External Resources

World Bank Group | Guide | Safety First : How to Leverage Social Safety Nets to Prevent Gender Based Violence [May 2021]

The objective of this paper is to provide operational guidance on how to optimize social safety net program design and implementation to prevent GBV and empower women.

JPAL | Literature Review | What Works to Enhance Women’s Agency [July 2020]

This paper analyzes direct and indirect indicators to measure women’s agency across different domains of agency, such as: decision-making power, freedom of movement and from violence, family and household, economic, political and community. This is a good resource for someone who wants to measure agency, including women in leadership.

UN Women | Stories | Intersectional feminism: what it means and why it matters right now [July 2020]

Feminist activists provide some examples of what feminist intersectionality looks like in their contexts. Each feminist activist highlighted here includes links to further details on their individual stories.

Gender and Development Network | Paper | Intersectionality Reflections from the Gender & Development Network [November 2017]

This piece makes a strong case for why intersectionality is important and how its application is relevant to development. Particularly, pages 5 & 6 include a list of important questions for an intersectional approach and the challenges it could pose for actors.

Kimberlé Crenshaw, TEDWomen 2016 | Video |The Urgency of Intersectionality [October 2016]

Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality in her 1989 essay “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics”. In this 2016 TEDWomen talk, Crenshaw discusses the reality of race and gender bias -- and the importance of understanding how the two can combine to create even more harm.

Naila Kabeer | Paper | Social exclusion: concepts, findings and implications for the MDGs [September 2003]

In this paper, Kabeer makes the case that things such as the past, ethnicity and religion are important to identity and deconstructs the idea of women as a monolithic category. And how different policies and issues affect women differently depending on their layered identity. Written before Kimberlé Crenshaw developed the thinking on intersectionality, this paper pairs well with her TEDWomen talk on The Urgency of Intersectionality.

AWID | Guide | A Rights-Based Approach to Development [August 2002]

This primer describes what a rights-based approach is, presents its benefits to the development community, and suggests some ways that it can be used. It is also relevant for how to think about outcomes from a rights-based approach.

SIDA | Collected Essays | Discussing Women and Empowerment: Theory and Practice [2001]

• Naila Kabeer: Resources, Agency, Achievements: Reflections on the Measurement of Women’s Empowerment

• Patricia McFadden: Cultural Practice as Gendered Exclusion: Experiences from Southern Africa

• Signe Arnfred: Questions of Power: Women’s Movements, Feminist Theory and Development Aid

• Edmé Domínguez: Citizenship and Women in Mexico: Searching for a New Political Culture? Views and Experiences of Participants and Non-Participants in Political Action

• Sherin Saadallah: Gender and Power in Muslim Societies: Issues for Development Practice

This volume of essays discusses the necessity of ongoing dialogue between researchers and practitioners from a variety of perspectives. Enduring impact requires the relationship between researchers and development practitioners, with empirical knowledge of local contexts and understanding of how policies are generated and implemented.