Intersectionality as a tool for social movements: Strategies of inclusion and representation in the Québécois women’s movement
| Author | Eléonore Lépinard,Marie Laperrière |
| DOI | 10.1177/0263395716649009 |
| Date | 01 November 2016 |
| Published date | 01 November 2016 |
| Subject Matter | Special Section: Intersectionality and Political Science ResearchGuest Edited by Silvia Erzeel (Université catholique de Louvain; University of Antwerp) and Liza Mügge (University of Amsterdam) |
research-article2016
Special Section Article
Politics
2016, Vol. 36(4) 374 –382
Intersectionality as a tool for
© The Author(s) 2016
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social movements: Strategies
DOI: 10.1177/0263395716649009
pol.sagepub.com
of inclusion and representation
in the Québécois women’s
movement
Marie Laperrière
Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA
Eléonore Lépinard
Center for Gender Studies, Quartier UNIL-Mouline, Lausanne, Switzerland
Abstract
As a social movement strategy, intersectionality is used to foster the inclusion and representation
of minority groups. In this article, we examine how Québécois women’s organizations use
intersectionality as a tool to include immigrant and Native women. We argue that intersectionality
can entail different practices with potentially conflicting goals. We conclude that social movement
scholars would benefit from paying attention to intersectionality and to how it is practiced by
activists and organizations. Indeed, a focus on intersectionality sheds light on the tensions inherent
in the processes by which organizations construct collective identities, formulate political demands,
manage internal conflicts and build alliances.
Keywords
intersectionality, migrant women, minorities, social movements, women’s organizations
Received: 23rd February 2015; Revised version received: 1st March 2016; Accepted: 31 March 2016
With roots in Black feminism and in the work of feminists of colour, the concept of inter-
sectionality emerged as a critique of social movements’ tendency to exclude minority
groups’ interests and identities (Collins, 1990; Crenshaw, 1991; Moraga and Anzaldúa,
1984). In fact, scholars who have studied social movements through the lens of intersec-
tionality have exposed the widespread failure of organizations focused on a single
Corresponding author:
Marie Laperrière, Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, 1810 Chicago Avenue, Evanston,
IL 60208, USA.
Email: marielaperriere2018@u.northwestern.edu
Laperrière and Lépinard
375
identity such as gender to address power relations among their members. They have also
exposed how and why movements tend to prioritize the needs and interests of their most
privileged members and to marginalize those of their most disadvantaged constituents
(Crenshaw, 1991; Mohanty, 2003; Strolovitch, 2007).
In recent years, intersectionality has become a “normative goal, or preferred mode
of organizing” invoked by feminists and activists from various social movements who
claim to represent single identity constituencies, such as “women,” in all their diversity
(Weldon, 2008: 217; see also Evans, 2015). In this context, scholars have begun inves-
tigating what intersectionality means on the ground, how it is practiced by women’s
rights organizations, and what consequences it carries for movements, organizations,
and their constituencies (e.g. Bassel and Emejulu, 2010, 2014; Jihye Chun et al., 2013;
Lépinard, 2014; Townsend-Bell, 2011). However, even though recognizing or address-
ing intersectionality has become part of the daily practices of many activists and move-
ments, the study of intersectionality has not been mainstreamed in social movement
scholarship.1
Paying attention to practices of intersectionality can contribute to social movement
scholarship in different ways. For example, scholars who have analysed the ways in
which intersectionality has been adopted as a social movement strategy have shed light
on the difficulties involved in forging coalitions between different groups of women and
agreeing on a common political agenda (Fominaya, 2010; Gilmore, 2008; Hancock, 2011;
Nyhagen Predelli and Halsaa, 2012; Rolandsen Agustín, 2013; Smith, 1995; Townsend-
Bell, 2011; Weldon, 2006). They have also shown how movements and organizations can
adopt intersectionality as an “affirmative advocacy practice” (Strolovitch, 2007) that
encourages them to include political demands specifically for disadvantaged constituents
into their political platforms (e.g. Giraud and Dufour, 2010; Weldon, 2006).
In this article, we contribute to this new field of research that examines intersectional-
ity as a strategy for social movements by exploring the different, and sometimes contra-
dictory, goals that organizations pursue when they implement intersectionality. More
precisely, we distinguish between intersectionality as a tool used for the inclusion of
migrant women inside organizations, and intersectionality as a tool used to reveal their
political marginalization within organizations and the broader women’s movement and to
redress their under-representation. We explore the consequences of these two strategies
for the construction of collective identity, a prime focus of social movement scholarship
(e.g. Hunt and Benford, 2004; Johnston et al., 1994; Melucci, 1989; Polletta and Jasper,
2001; Taylor, 1996; Taylor and Whittier, 1992). First, we look at how women’s grassroots
organizations have adopted intersectionality as a tool to foster the inclusion of immigrant
women into women’s organizations. In this case, the goal of intersectionality is to better
address immigrant women’s needs in terms of service provision, and to encourage them
to take part in a unified Québécois feminist project. In a second section, we analyse how
the Fédération des Femmes du Québec (FFQ), a province-wide umbrella organization
focused on advocacy, uses intersectionality to reveal the political marginalization of
migrant and Native women and to attempt to redress it within the broader women’s move-
ment. In this case, adopting intersectionality means recognizing and addressing power
relations among women. Finally, we elaborate on what an intersectional lens brings to the
study of social movements. We argue that focusing on the tensions that arise when activ-
ists attempt to adopt intersectionality gives us insight into how collective identities are
formed, political demands are formulated, internal conflicts are managed, and...
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