In a world where the cries for democracy seemingly coincide with the ideals of Western liberalism, the ‘free’ world in other words, the cries of minorities and women lie crushed beneath the patriarchal majority’s jackboot as they have for thousands of years. The branch of feminism which we know as intersectionality caters to this problem. Breaking down the political and social structure with regards to gender discrimination, it delves into the alarming problems associated with the ideas of seemingly flawless systems in the free world as well as blatantly totalitarian systems.
The productivity of intersectionality relies, as the word indicates, on the multifaceted deviance from mainstream politics to what we refer to as identity politics. Intersectionality brings to light the many faces of oppression often ignored or glossed over in the face of seemingly bigger issues such as race, religion etc. It is due to intersectionality that there is resistance in favor of the doubly, triply and so on, oppressed members of society. Take African American women, for example. In light of their people’s history in the United States, the idea of racial equality has remained prevalent at the forefront of the civil rights movement. The women were considered victims of merely racial prejudice and not gender based prejudice. This double oppression was ignored in the face of the race question and therefore without intersectional politics these intricate, societal foundations for discrimination never come to light. Take African American women who are part of the LGBTQ community. They suffer what we can call a triple form of oppression i.e. racial, sexual and gender-based discrimination. Without intersectional politics only the racial part would have ever come to light though usually people under the weight of this three-tier oppression have their voices drowned out altogether.
Conclusively, intersectional politics can be productive in shedding light on multifaced forms of oppression instead of ignoring the rest and focusing on the one big question. Moreover in their deviance from mainstream politics provides a different perspective that might cater to the needs of the minorities and women in society. Unlike mainstream politics, intersectional politics leave out nothing and no one in their many pronged approach towards long established hierarchies and other structures in society.
Decoloniality and Decolonization 