Intersectional feminism: What it means and why it matters right now
From climate disasters hitting hardest in the poorest communities, to a sharp rise in racism and discrimination, to the spread of online misogyny and anti-rights rhetoric – it's clear that equality is still out of reach for too many. The world can feel overwhelming and stacked with overlapping injustices. So how do we make sense of it all and how do we fight back?
Intersectional feminism offers a way in. It helps us understand how different types of inequality – like racism, sexism, ableism, and classism – don’t just exist side by side, but often collide and compound.
What is intersectional feminism?
The term was coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. She described intersectionality as: “A prism for seeing the way in which various forms of inequality often operate together and exacerbate each other.”
“All inequality is not created equal,” she says. “We tend to talk about race inequality as separate from inequality based on gender, class, sexuality or immigrant status. What’s often missing is how some people are subject to all of these, and the experience is not just the sum of its parts.”
Put simply: not all inequality is experienced the same way. A Black woman, a trans teenager, or a disabled migrant may face discrimination that is shaped by all parts of their identity – not just one.
Intersectional feminism puts those realities at the centre. It compels us to listen to the people who face multiple forms of oppression and to build solutions that reflect the full picture.
What does intersectional inequality look like?
Black feminist voices
Valdecir Nascimento, a prominent Black feminist activist in Brazil, puts it simply:
“The dialogue to advance Black women’s rights should put them in the centre.”
She has been fighting for justice for over 40 years – not just in the feminist movement, but across the Black and progressive movements in Brazil.
“Black women from Brazil have never stopped fighting. We don’t want others to speak for Black feminists, neither white feminists nor Black men. It’s time for young Black women to lead. We are the solution in Brazil, not the problem.”
Indigenous girls and lost opportunities
Intersectional feminism means recognizing how injustice is woven into both the past and present. Centuries of violence, racism, and discrimination have created deep inequalities that continue to shape people’s lives today determining who has access to education, safety, decent work, healthcare, and political power.
Sonia Maribel Sontay Herrera, an Indigenous rights defender from Guatemala, knows this firsthand. As a child, she left her village to pursue education in the city – an opportunity many Indigenous girls never get. But to study, she had to give up her native language, K'iche', and learn Spanish.
Later, when applying for jobs, people told her the only work available for someone like her was in the home.
“They see us as domestic workers. When they see an Indigenous woman, they assume that is all we can do.”
Favelas on the front line of climate injustice
For Anne Heloise Barbosa, a youth activist and climate justice leader also from Brazil, layered inequality is something she knows well:
“I lived in the Favelas, the poor neighbourhoods and marginalized communities. These are the places that when there is a big rainstorm, they are the first ones that are going to suffer from landslides and floods.”
“People who live in these areas on the outskirts of cities, need to travel for three hours on the bus to get to work, and three hours to come home. It is undignified and it’s not fair.”
At first glance, challenges such as violence against women, environmental injustice, and discrimination might seem unrelated. But intersectional feminism shows us how they are interlinked. It gives us a framework to counter all forms of oppression at once, by focusing on the women who are most affected by these and building movements that leave no one behind.
“Today's urgencies: climate change, digital rights, artificial intelligence are threatening women and girls. If you put this intersectionality on the balance, you will notice that we still need to fight for black women's rights, trans women's rights.”
Why intersectional feminism matters more than ever
The gap between those who hold power and those pushed to the margins is widening at speed, according to the UN’s latest World Social Report. In 2025, climate shocks, tech-driven discrimination, economic stress, and regressive politics are converging into a perfect storm that is hitting the most marginalized and vulnerable in our societies the hardest.
Black and Indigenous women, trans and queer youth, women with disabilities, girls in rural areas are living at the sharpest intersections of inequality and bearing the full weight of today's crises.
“If you are invisible in everyday life,” says Thai human rights defender Matcha Phorn-In, “your needs will not be thought of, let alone addressed, in a crisis.”
This is why intersectional feminism matters in 2025. It helps us see how systems of oppression reinforce each other and why we need solutions that are just as interconnected.
As Kimberlé Crenshaw reminds us: “If you see inequality as a ‘them’ problem or an ‘unfortunate other’ problem – that is the problem.”
Intersectional feminism is more than a lens; it’s a lifeline for many. It calls on us to act and center solutions around those who are most affected by crises and inequality. Intersectional feminism pushes us to look deeper and to build movements that deliver justice for ALL women and girls.