Intersectionality: A European Paradigm?

Abstract

The concept of intersectionality attempts to capture how race, class, gender and other social locations shape minority women’s lives and brings this knowledge to bear on the theory and politics of women’s movements. This panel will reflect on the ways in which comparative, European perspectives can inform and refine our understanding of this concept that originated in the United States. Papers address the dynamics of intersectionality across Europe, including France, the United Kingdom, Norway, Turkey, Germany. The intersection of gender with social locations of race, religion, gender, nationality and class is considered both in terms of policy and regulation and bottom-up perspectives that focus on how collective and individual actors mobilise and implement intersectionality in their practices and respond to policies and practices that aim to regulate these intersections in the context of austerity. The panel aims to consider whether a European paradigm of intersectionality is emerging that is shaped by the specific configuration of religion, immigration, race and class that is crystallising in Europe, and how it should be qualified conceptually.

Title	Details
Intersectionality From Above – Framing Muslim Headscarves in European Policy Debates	View Paper Details
Intersectionality and the Politics of Feminist Alliances	View Paper Details
Cutting Complexity to Secure a Future? The French and British Third Sector and Minority Women's Activism in Tough Times	View Paper Details
Intersectional Dialogues: Gender and Ethnic Diversity in Europe	View Paper Details