Posts Written by Alice
By Alice Buttrick • 13 years ago

Intersectionality now codified in UK Employment Law!

A really excellent development in UK law was recently brought to my attention. Under the section defining discrimination, the updated Equality Act of 2010 includes the following guidance for employment law in practice:

3.1 Dual Discrimination

This provision, s. 14, is expected to be implemented in April 2011. It will apply to those who claim that they have been discriminated against on two grounds simultaneously, eg that he is an older Catholic or that she is a black lesbian. It does not permit the combination of more than two characteristics.

The recognition that identity politics intersect, interact, and can exacerbate each other — given the title “intersectionality” by Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989  —  has been one of the most transformative concepts of feminist theory (and incidentally, formed the basis of my senior thesis). As echoed by the explanatory notes reproduced above, the idea of intersectionality was initially created to express the discrimination particular to black women, who because of the combination of their race and their gender often suffered more acute disadvantages than either white women or black men. This concept has grown rapidly in popularity, as it provides a means to understand intersecting and overlapping disadvantage and privilege, thereby showing a clearer picture of human experience. It has also been fruitfully used beyond academia in public health interventions among other venues.

To my knowledge, this is the first time that dual discrimination has been recognized in national law, although certainly the concept has been circulating in international and human ...
By Alice Buttrick • 13 years ago

Make Her Look Like a Rhodes Scholar

If Twitter is the collective consciousness of the era, there is much to be learned from its slogans. After Christine O’Donnell’s infamous performance in the Delaware senatorial debates last week, people all over the world tweeted scornfully, “She makes Sarah Palin look like a Rhodes Scholar.” But even before Ms. O’Donnell denied the separation of church and state, the line has been passed around with varying embellishments and expletives for weeks. Others have suggested that Ms. O’Donnell makes Michelle Bachman, Paris Hilton and Edith Bunker look positively Oxonian.

And O’Donnell is not alone in her powers of flattering comparison: Kat Von D, the woman who broke up Jesse James and Sandra Bullock, apparently makes Jennifer Aniston look like one.  Playboy bunny ...

If Twitter is the collective consciousness of the era, there is much to be learned from its slogans. After Christine O’Donnell’s infamous performance in the Delaware senatorial debates last week, people all over the world tweeted scornfully, ...