Preface

Abstract

More than identity politics, intersectionality regards the inability of institutional structures to remedy discrimination because of the intersection between social dynamics, which are often conceived of discretely (Crenshaw & Dill, 2009). For a set of black women workers in the manufacturing context, the court found that they were not discriminated against on the basis of their race, because black male workers were hired for manufacturing positions. They were not discriminated against because of their gender, but because there were white women hired for the front office. This set of black women workers was caught at the intersections of race and gender discrimination law and left without an effective remedy (Crenshaw, 1989). This intersection metaphor is worth examining in the higher education context as we consider that the majority of students on most campuses are women (Allen, Dean, & Bracken, 2008), an increasing number of these women are not white; yet, most campuses have support services targeted at African-American or multicultural student affairs and women's services. Comparatively, few campuses assess and address the needs of black women students at the intersection of their multiplicative identities (Wing, 2003).

Citation

Renée Chambers, C. (2011), "Preface", Renée Chambers, C. (Ed.) Support Systems and Services for Diverse Populations: Considering the Intersection of Race, Gender, and the Needs of Black Female Undergraduates (Diversity in Higher Education, Vol. 8), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. ix-xii. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1479-3644(2011)0000008003