Ishika Mittal, Advocate at Karanjawala & Company
Introduction
Kimberlé Crenshaw, described intersectional feminism as, “a prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other”1. A concept which has increasingly become more widespread and prominent with the 4th wave of feminism, is still a mammoth task to achieve and implement. Feminists around the world have consistently emphasised the need for intersectionality and that women are oppressed not just by patriarchy but my multiple other social inequalities at once depending on their different social standings. However, the question which comes up is that while women's groups have acknowledged the need and desirability of an intersectional approach, how often have women’s groups actually been able to implement it in reality? How possible has it been for the women’s movements to evolve in a way to encompass the idea of intersectionality within their fights for women's rights?
While adept at contextualising intersectionality within the feminist movement theoretically, the groups find it difficult to adopt it practically. It cannot be argued that this is on account of a lack of will or effort but more because the oppressive systems in place are so staunchly resistant to any changes in the status quo that all the marginalized groups often act from a place of fear. The small space that they are able to carve out with great difficulty becomes a territory of sorts which they then become almost territorial over. While it is easy to criticise the already marginalised for not including other marginalised groups’ interests within their movements, the truth remains that the only person to blame is the oppressive class. In the desperate bid to secure their own rights, oppressed groups end up often fighting each other in a way inadvertently becoming one with the oppressors to some extent.
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