Hannah Mac Quarrie Intersectional Analysis Example PDF

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The Intersection of Disability, Race, and Gender Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, St. Thomas University GEND 2016: Introduction to Women’s and Gender Studies Dr. Margaret Campbell April 13th, 2021 Intersectionality is identified to be one of the “Ten Principles of Disability Justice” (Berne et al., 2018). As a concept, intersectionality acknowledges that when one inequality is identified, there are often other inequalities contributing to the impact that is has on a person’s life (Crenshaw, 1989). In terms of disability, Hirschmann (2012) indicates that women make up more than half of the people with disabilities in the world due to inequalities in healthcare and discriminatory treatment. Considering this issue, I will performing an intersectional analysis that explores how race and gender further contribute to impact that disability may have on one’s life. Some strong areas of study that are present in the literature on this topic include black feminist frameworks in the context of black women with disabilities (Bailey & Mobley, 2019), the intersectional experience of disability, race, and gender as it relates to the experience of education (Rajini, 2020), and the intersection of disability, race, and gender in the workplace (Hall et al., 2012). It is these areas that I will be focusing on throughout this discussion and analysis of the intersectionality of disability in the context of race and gender. Black Women with Disabilities An important framework came up throughout my research in preparation for this discussion is the black feminist disability framework (Bailey & Mobley, 2019). Bailey and Mobley (2019) discusses that this framework identifies why disability studies must begin to include a strictly intersectional approach to how disability is discussed and understood. This

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discussion was inspired by the need to black women to be further acknowledged in research on how people experience disabilities, as black women are marginalized and experience a degree of inequality that white persons with disabilities may not have to withstand (Bailey & Mobley, 2019). Another publication by Miles (2019) further supports Bailey and Mobley’s (2019) discussion by suggesting “that African American women with disabilities particularly face multiple barriers to resources and equitable treatment in society”. An important theme that came up in both Bailey and Mobley’s (2019) discussion and Miles’ (2019) study is the idea of the “strong black woman”. This was argued to be a form of internalized or social ableism, as it pushes the myth that black women are expected to be uniquely tough and resilient, simply because they are black women who need to assert their place in their society (Bailey, 2019; Miles, 2019). This idea of the “strong black woman” is oppressive because it is suggesting that black women need to go to extra lengths to access support and resources that are otherwise made much more accessible to their white counterparts (Miles, 2019). If this is considered in the context of disability, one can imagine that black women may experience challenges accessing resources related to their accessibility needs (Bailey & Mobley, 2019). Miles’ (2019) study was able to reveal that self-identification as a “strong black woman” who is experiencing a disability can threaten the self-concept of women who are relying on themselves to seek out the support that they need. Many participants in Miles’ (2019) study identified that though they are experiencing disabilities themselves, they are also caregivers to others, and they have trouble accepting the same kind of help from others. This indicates a unique type of interdependence among black women with disabilities which further points to how intersectional this issue truly is. Women especially are met with caregiver roles, but when

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you apply the experience of disability and race to this issue as well, it reveals the inequality that black women with disabilities experience (Bailey & Mobley, 2019; Miles, 2019).

Education The experience of girls with disabilities in schools is an experience that reveals many of the inequalities and forms of oppression that exist in the schooling system (Rajini, 2020). We will continue with a discussion of the duality of gender and disability in the context of education, and then add racial considerations to gain an understanding of how black women and girls with disabilities may experience further challenges (Bailey, 2019). A study by Rajini (2020) analyzes the experience of two participants who experienced education as girls and women with disabilities. The participants in this study spoke to how their parents and superiors viewed them as vulnerable because they were young and disabled girls. Whether it was intentional or not, the girls in this study felt as though they were viewed to be less capable (Rajini, 2020). The authors point out the duality in these feelings and projections that the women in the study experienced throughout their education. In some societies, girls are already seen to be less capable intellectually in terms of their level of education and success (Rajini, 2020). When you add disability to this already established gendered inequality, girls with disabilities are more likely to have to further prove themselves to be intellectual and capable. Exclusion was another thing the participants experienced as girls with disabilities in school, but they noted that support of their peers was helpful in confronting the oppression they were facing from other forces in their lives (Rajini, 2020). This study reveals that ableism is tied into how our education system currently functions, and it is largely inaccessible for those with disabilities (Rajini, 2020). One participant in Rajini’s (2020) study indicated that she often

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missed school and there was a severe lack of infrastructure to support her, so she fell behind. This points to the lack of access and flexibility that must be improved upon with intersectional considerations in mind. Acknowledging the findings in Rajini’s study, it is important to analyze this and consider what the experience of black girls experiencing disabilities might be in the education system. It is first necessary to note what the role of black girls has been historically in the education system. Perkins (1983) discusses what the role of education was in the early 19th century. In the context of white women, the education system focused primarily preparing middle-class white women to be wives and mothers which a focus on literacy and life skills (Perkins, 1983). This model was not designed with black women and girls in mind, as they were seen as inferior to white women due to their race, class, culture, and their history of oppression within North America (Perkins, 1983). To this day, black women and girls still experience oppression and marginalization within the education system, which is further exacerbated when we consider the intersectionality of black women and girls with disabilities. Ben-Moshe and Magana (2014) identify the fact that there is still an overrepresentation of black girls in special education programs which are largely used for those experiencing intellectual or cognitive disabilities. Bailey and Mobley (2019) adds to intersectionality of this issue regarding race by pointing out that “black girls are often reprimanded for not comporting themselves like their white girl classmates […]”. This is an issue that must be further represented in literature and research; however, it is clear that black girls and women with disabilities experience inequalities that are unique to them within the education system. Workplace

Hannah MacQuarrie – 1059680 Another area where disability, race, and gender intersect is the workplace. There is an unfortunate lack of research on the intersectionality of these subjects. By combining literature on black women in the workplace, as well as the experience of women with disabilities in the workplace, we can form an analysis of how these experiences may intersect to affect black women with disabilities more severely. Based on some studies, the experience of black women in the workplace is comparable to black girls in the education system (Hall et al.,2012; Rajini, 2020). Hall et al., (2012) indicate that black women in the workplace experience discrimination in the form of stereotypes, absence of training and mentoring, being excluded from social groups in the workplace, being ignored, being harassment, and dealing with assumptions of incompetence. Hall et al. (2012) also identifies the forms of both institutional and personal prejudice that black women experience in the workplace. Participants in Hall et al.’s (2012) study shared that in most cases they did not feel as though their education and experience guaranteed equal treatment in the workplace in terms of career progression and promotions. In the case of this study, examples of racism and sexism in the workplace were easy to identify (Hall et al., 2012). A publication by Henry (2000) includes comments and entries of Henry’s own journal about things she has heard colleagues say regarding minorities and women in the workplace. Some of the entries included superiors indicating that the employer was lowering their standards by continuing to hire women and minorities (Henry, 2000). Though the stories in this article took place roughly 20-25 years ago, it is frightening that these attitudes were so accepted at the time (Henry, 2000). We must consider not only the intersectionality of this issue and these attitudes as they are applied to black women in the workplace, but also how the experience of disability may contribute to these attitudes within the workplace.

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Hannah MacQuarrie – 1059680 A study by Noonan et al. (2004) aimed to study to the career development of highly achieving women with disabilities. They found that women with disabilities in the workplace were very resilient and self-reliant; however, they noted that this group of women experienced challenges related to having people to look up to who understood their experience as a woman with a disability in the workforce (Noonan et al., 2004). Social support was lacking in the workplace for women in this study, and they noted that women with disabilities in the workplace experienced difficulty identifying with their disability (Noonan et al., 2004). This study also identified that women with disabilities are more likely to have to use coping mechanisms to address negative attitudes in the workplace compared to their able-bodied counterparts (Noonan et al., 2004). This speaks to the challenges and experiences that women with disabilities go through in the workplace. This is not something that we consider often enough. We know that black women in the workplace are already experiencing stereotypes, lack of training and mentoring, exclusion, being ignored, being harassment, and they are dealing with assumptions of incompetence (Hall et al., 2012). Couple these experiences with the negative attitudes, lack of support, and lack of role models that women with disabilities face and we have ourselves an intersectional issue that cannot be ignored (Noonan et al., 2014). It is obvious that more work needs to be done to improve the experiences of these groups of women. The intersectionality of this issue leads to not only discrimination and negative experiences in the context of gender and disability, but also race. Further studies, both quantitative and qualitative in nature, should be done to identify the extent to which black women with disabilities experience increased discrimination in the workplace. Conclusion

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Overall, despite challenges in terms of lack of literature and research on this issue, it has been made clear that the intersectionality of disability, race, and gender is an issue that has consequences and impacting already vulnerable and marginalized groups. I chose to focus on the experiences of black women with disabilities beginning with a discussion about the marginalization of black women and the concept of the “strong black woman” (Bailey, 2019; Miles, 2019). This discussion was introduction to the stereotypes and expectations that are placed on black women in general. Then, I chose to discuss the experience of black women and girls with disabilities in the context of education. The historic background of education as it relates to black women was discussed (Perkins, 1983). I revealed that girls with disabilities experience challenges related to access and resources in the education system (Rajini, 2020). Blackness further impacts this when considering that the education system in our society was not made with the success of marginalized groups including black women (Perkins, 1983). These challenges can follow black women and girls with disabilities into the workplace (Hall et al., 2012; Noonan, et al., 2014). Much more work needs to be done on this intersectional issue. Black women with disabilities deserve more support. We must do more to deconstruct the barriers that our society currently enforces in terms of inequality, marginalization, and stigmatization regarding the intersection of disability, race, and gender.

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Bailey, M., & Mobley, I. A. (2019). Work in the Intersections: A Black Feminist Disability Framework. Gender & Society, 33(1), 19–40. https://doiorg.proxy.hil.unb.ca/10.1177/0891243218801523 Ben-Moshe, L., & Magaña, S. (2014). An Introduction to Race, Gender, and Disability: Intersectionality, Disability Studies, and Families of Color. Women, Gender & Families of Color, 2(2), 105–114. Berne, P. (2018). Ten Principles of Disability Justice. Women’s Studies Quarterly, 46(1/2), 227– 230. https://doi-org.proxy.hil.unb.ca/10.1353/wsq.2018.0003 Crenshaw, K. (1989). “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics.” University of Chicago Legal Forum, 139–167. Hall, J. C., Everett, J. E., & Hamilton-Mason, J. (2011). Black Women Talk About Workplace Stress and How They Cope. Journal of Black Studies, 43(2), 207–226. https://doi.org/10.1177/0021934711413272 Henry, A. (2000). Thoughts on Black Women in the Workplace. Urban Education, 35(5), 520– 524. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042085900355002 Hirschmann, N. J. (2012). Disability as a New Frontier for Feminist Intersectionality Research. Politics & Gender, 8(3), 396–405. https://doi-org.proxy.hil.unb.ca/10.1017/S1743923X12000384 https://doi-org.proxy.hil.unb.ca/10.5406/womgenfamcol.2.2.0105

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Miles, A. L. (2019). “Strong Black Women”: African American Women with Disabilities, Intersecting Identities, and Inequality. Gender & Society, 33(1), 41–63. https://doiorg.proxy.hil.unb.ca/10.1177/0891243218814820 Noonan, B. M., Gallor, S. M., Hensler-McGinnis, N. F., Fassinger, R. E., Shihwe Wang, R. E., & Goodman, J. (2004). Challenge and Success: A Qualitative Study of the Career Development of Highly Achieving Women With Physical and Sensory Disabilities. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51(1), 68–80. Perkins, L. M. (1983). The impact of the “cult of true womanhood” on the education of black women. Journal of Social Issues, 39(3), 17–28. Rajni. (2020). Gender and Disability: Dual Marginalization. Indian Journal of Gender Studies, 27(3), 410–419. https://doi-org.proxy.hil.unb.ca/10.1177/0971521520939285...