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There is no such thing as ‘women’s representation’: intersectionality and second-generation gender and politics scholarship

Siow, Orly LU and Christoffersen, Ashlee (2024) In European Journal of Politics and Gender
Abstract
Celis and Childs have called for a ‘second generation’ of feminist scholarship on representation that foregrounds intersectional heterogeneity and emphasises responsiveness to representatives beyond parliaments. We build on these important contributions, arguing that second-generation feminist scholarship and democratic design can make the greatest gains by operationalising intersectionality in close alignment with its origins in Black feminism and critical race theory. First, to foreground intersectional heterogeneity, we posit that feminist scholarship on representation must shift away from the overarching category ‘women’, exemplified in the popular operationalisation of intersectionality as ‘diversity among women’. We instead propose a... (More)
Celis and Childs have called for a ‘second generation’ of feminist scholarship on representation that foregrounds intersectional heterogeneity and emphasises responsiveness to representatives beyond parliaments. We build on these important contributions, arguing that second-generation feminist scholarship and democratic design can make the greatest gains by operationalising intersectionality in close alignment with its origins in Black feminism and critical race theory. First, to foreground intersectional heterogeneity, we posit that feminist scholarship on representation must shift away from the overarching category ‘women’, exemplified in the popular operationalisation of intersectionality as ‘diversity among women’. We instead propose a margins-to-centre approach that centres the intersections of race, gender and other power structures. Second, we exemplify what this shift looks like in practice. We show how centring racially minoritised women and the intersecting structures that position them within political institutions transforms strategies to improve responsiveness to this intersectionally marginalised group. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
epub
subject
keywords
intersectionality, representation, race, Black feminism, parliaments
in
European Journal of Politics and Gender
publisher
Bristol University Press
ISSN
2515-1088
DOI
10.1332/25151088Y2024D000000029
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
946786da-6e0f-44a2-872b-67b692353d9c
date added to LUP
2024-05-06 09:44:43
date last changed
2024-05-06 12:30:15
@article{946786da-6e0f-44a2-872b-67b692353d9c,
  abstract     = {{Celis and Childs have called for a ‘second generation’ of feminist scholarship on representation that foregrounds intersectional heterogeneity and emphasises responsiveness to representatives beyond parliaments. We build on these important contributions, arguing that second-generation feminist scholarship and democratic design can make the greatest gains by operationalising intersectionality in close alignment with its origins in Black feminism and critical race theory. First, to foreground intersectional heterogeneity, we posit that feminist scholarship on representation must shift away from the overarching category ‘women’, exemplified in the popular operationalisation of intersectionality as ‘diversity among women’. We instead propose a margins-to-centre approach that centres the intersections of race, gender and other power structures. Second, we exemplify what this shift looks like in practice. We show how centring racially minoritised women and the intersecting structures that position them within political institutions transforms strategies to improve responsiveness to this intersectionally marginalised group.}},
  author       = {{Siow, Orly and Christoffersen, Ashlee}},
  issn         = {{2515-1088}},
  keywords     = {{intersectionality; representation; race; Black feminism; parliaments}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{04}},
  publisher    = {{Bristol University Press}},
  series       = {{European Journal of Politics and Gender}},
  title        = {{There is no such thing as ‘women’s representation’: intersectionality and second-generation gender and politics scholarship}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1332/25151088Y2024D000000029}},
  doi          = {{10.1332/25151088Y2024D000000029}},
  year         = {{2024}},
}