Intersectionality in the African context

Intersectionality is a critique of mainstream feminist thought, as well as other discourses of marginality. It problematises two key issues- the first is the essentialisation of gender by highlighting the ways in which feminism may apply a unitary standard to all women, despite differences in race, ethnicity, class, sexuality, religion, disability, culture and other spheres of identity. The second issue that intersectionality problematises is the exclusion of gender from other discourses of marginality, such as anti-racist discourse. In an African context, intersectionality provides an important lens through which the often complex and diverse experiences of women may be understood. However, the focus of African feminist scholarship has largely been on the second issue, with analyses of how the experiences of African women differ from those of African men in various discourses of marginality. There has been much less focus on differences amongst African women. This entry, therefore, highlights how intersectionality has been used in African feminist scholarship, highlighting how the theory has developed on the continent. It also illustrates that intersectionality is a core component of African feminist scholarship, because it is impossible to analyse the experiences of African women using single-axis identities.