Gender Intersectionality And Identity

Identity Intersection Erikson (1968) stated that identity is an image a person takes on in spite of changes in personality or surrounding conditions. In McEwen (2003) research, identity was described as both a grouping of qualities pulled together to form one’s self as well as classifications of identities such as professional and leadership. Watt (2006) stated that each component of a person’s identity is interconnected and consequently cannot be in isolation. Therefore, how a person identifies and choose to live out their identity is primarily based on how they are perceived by others and how their identity has been developed. Being a women and person of color in a male dominating society can be presumed difficult based on the implied …show more content…
In 1989 Kimberle Williams Crenshaw’s coined the term intersectionality (Cole, 2009). Sanchez-Hucles & Davis (2010) describe intersectionality as a systematic means for learning, understanding, and responding to how gender interconnects with other identities and how these connections add to the unique experiences of oppression and privilege. The key concept of intersectionality is based on the intersection between race, gender, class and other characteristics that frame a person’s identity instead of trying to identity which social characteristics is being privileged or marginalized (Davis, 2008). The uniqueness of the intersection of race and gender coupled with positions of power and influence in an institution within the dominant culture is an experience not commonly researched and one that this research study desires to explore. Many African American women have had to develop both their racial and gender identities interchangeability. The next section will look at how the experiences of many African American women have spaced their identity in higher …show more content…
Becks-Moody (2004) noted that it is the exploration of the past challenges and experiences of African American women in higher education that provides an understanding to what influences their experiences today in academia. A look into the past, Oberlin College admitted its first female student in 1837 more than 200 years after the first college, Harvard College was founded (Whitt, 1997). Shortly after Oberlin College opened their doors to women in 1837, African American women were admitted. According to Littlefield (1997) Mary Jane Patterson was the first black woman in the United States to earn a college degree. Ms. Patterson earned a bachelor’s of science degree from Oberlin College in 1862 (Littlefield,