As women attain a majority in society and a significant portion of the workforce, including leadership positions, the predicate of "disadvantage" was overtaken by competing "identity groups." In fact, many women identify with these other groups, and a theory was needed to sort out conflicting claims for social redress. For example, should the alleged social handicap of being a black deaf woman be addressed in terms of 1) race, 2) hearing impairment or 3) gender? Under the [[intersectionality]] theory, such people should receive accommodations from society for all of their identities and a hierarchy of identify groups governs how much claim each group has to social capital based upon identity. Without intersectionality, the comparative privilege held by women in Western societies would be overshadowed by and put into competition with the claims of other identity groups. | As women attain a majority in society and a significant portion of the workforce, including leadership positions, the predicate of "disadvantage" was overtaken by competing "identity groups." In fact, many women identify with these other groups, and a theory was needed to sort out conflicting claims for social redress. For example, should the alleged social handicap of being a black deaf woman be addressed in terms of 1) race, 2) hearing impairment or 3) gender? Under the [[intersectionality]] theory, such people should receive accommodations from society for all of their identities and a hierarchy of identify groups governs how much claim each group has to social capital based upon identity. Without intersectionality, the comparative privilege held by women in Western societies would be overshadowed by and put into competition with the claims of other identity groups. |