The Intersectionality of Women's Lives and Resistance uses the tools of the arts, humanities, social sciences, and other fields to address challenges faced by women and girls around the world, both historically and in modern day, with an emphasis on intersectionality. Contributors offer interdisciplinary analyses of how gender intersects with race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, and other identity markers in complex ways, and how these are tied to the interconnected nature of systems of oppression, power, and privilege.

“Emma Gray’s smart guide came at the perfect time. Told through a series of interviews, first-person anecdots, calls to action, and how to’s, this is an important, inspiring book, but it’s also really f**king fun to read.” — Jennifer Romolini, Chief Content Officer at Shondaland.com

This book uses the tools of the arts, humanities, social sciences, and other fields to address challenges faced by women and girls around the world, both historically and in modern day, with an emphasis on intersectionality.

Recent years have witnessed growing scholarly interest in efforts to advance women’s work and in exploring the implicit obstacles to gender equity – such as the “glass floor,” “glass ceiling,” and “glass walls” – that have persisted in most career fields. This interdisciplinary collection contributes to this new field of knowledge by curating scholarly essays and current research on gendered work environments and all the nuanced meanings of “work” in the context of feminism and gender equality. The chapters represent some of the most outstanding papers presented at the Women and Gender Conference held at the University of South Dakota on April 9–10, 2015. The unifying focus of this collection is on the work-related intersections of gender, race, and class, which are investigated through a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches. Some of the essays provide historical and literary contexts for contemporary issues. Others use social-scientific approaches to identify strategies for making the contemporary Western workplace more humane and inclusive to women and other disadvantaged members of society. Advanced undergraduates and graduate students in women’s studies, sociology, history, and communication could use this book in courses that address the gendered workplace from an interdisciplinary perspective. Scholars from various disciplines interested in gender and work could also use the book as a reference and a guidepost for future research. Finally, this collection will be of interest to human resource professionals and other readers seeking to expand their perspectives on the gendered workplace.

A major publishing event, the collected writings of the groundbreaking scholar who "first coined intersectionality as a political framework" (Salon) For more than twenty years, scholars, activists, educators, and lawyers--inside and outside of the United States--have employed the concept of intersectionality both to describe problems of inequality and to fashion concrete solutions. In particular, as the Washington Post reported recently, "the term has been used by social activists as both a rallying cry for more expansive progressive movements and a chastisement for their limitations." Drawing on black feminist and critical legal theory, Kimberlé Crenshaw developed the concept of intersectionality, a term she coined to speak to the multiple social forces, social identities, and ideological instruments through which power and disadvantage are expressed and legitimized. In this comprehensive and accessible introduction to Crenshaw's work, readers will find key essays and articles that have defined the concept of intersectionality, collected together for the first time. The book includes a sweeping new introduction by Crenshaw as well as prefaces that contextualize each of the chapters. For anyone interested in movement politics and advocacy, or in racial justice and gender equity, On Intersectionality will be compulsory reading from one of the most brilliant theorists of our time.

In Intersectionality as Critical Social Theory Patricia Hill Collins offers a set of analytical tools for those wishing to develop intersectionality's capability to theorize social inequality in ways that would facilitate social change. While intersectionality helps shed light on contemporary social issues, Collins notes that it has yet to reach its full potential as a critical social theory. She contends that for intersectionality to fully realize its power, its practitioners must critically reflect on its assumptions, epistemologies, and methods. She places intersectionality in dialog with several theoretical traditions—from the Frankfurt school to black feminist thought—to sharpen its definition and foreground its singular critical purchase, thereby providing a capacious interrogation into intersectionality's potential to reshape the world.

The concept of intersectionality has become a hot topic in academic and activist circles alike. But what exactly does it mean, and why has it emerged as such a vital lens through which to explore how social inequalities of race, class, gender, sexuality, age, ability and ethnicity shape one another? In this new book Patricia Hill Collins and Sirma Bilge provide a much-needed, introduction to the field of intersectional knowledge and praxis. They analyze the emergence, growth and contours of the concept and show how intersectional frameworks speak to topics as diverse as human rights, neoliberalism, identity politics, immigration, hip hop, global social protest, diversity, digital media, Black feminism in Brazil, violence and World Cup soccer. Accessibly written and drawing on a plethora of lively examples to illustrate its arguments, the book highlights intersectionality's potential for understanding inequality and bringing about social justice oriented change. Intersectionality will be an invaluable resource for anyone grappling with the main ideas, debates and new directions in this field.