Throughout my Social Justice and Human Rights program, I have examined the different ways in which women across the globe experience the adverse effects of factors such as patriarchy, racism, sexism, and discrimination. I began my journey by investigating patriarchal societies and the gendered inequality women and girls face with regard to education. I delved into sex trafficking in China and how according to the U.S. Department of State’s 2022 Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), China is one of the most underperforming countries in the world in terms of achieving the minimum requirements for protecting their trafficking victims, mostly women and girls (2022). During my Migration, Asylum, and Refugees course, I learned how the women and girls in the Global South disproportionately experience the negative effects of climate change. And finally, due to the recent overturning of Roe V. Wade, I wanted to dive into the reproductive injustices that are happening right here in the United States and how women of color are significantly and intentionally impacted.

My research led me to some overarching themes that tied these women and girls together across the globe in terms of what they were experiencing. While it is true that all women and girls experience gendered discrimination at times throughout their lives, the degree and frequency to which some women were experiencing these injustices when compared to other women was glaring. I began asking myself why were some women facing so many more disadvantages than others? How can we most accurately and poignantly shine a light on fact that the experiences of all women are not the same? What can we do to shatter the notion that women's empowerment is in no way inclusive of all women? And most importantly, how can these gendered discriminations be appropriately addressed and remedied?

These discrepancies can be best understood by looking at the issue from an intersectional feminist lens. Let's start by defining intersectionality. Intersectionality is a term created by scholar and advocate for civil rights Kimberlé Crenshaw to describe the “compounded violence” Black women encounter and endure not only due to their race, but their gender as well (Matos, 2018). Intersectionality “provides a lens to examine unique forms of oppression that women of color experience due to the intersection of race/ethnicity/racism and gender/sexism along with other identities and systems of oppression” (Rosenthal, et al, p. 369). To illustrate, Crenshaw offers the analogy of a traffic intersection where different forms of discrimination are flowing from each direction. If a Black woman is standing in the middle of the intersection (or any woman of color), she has a higher chance of getting hit than a White woman as she could be hit by discrimination due not only to gender, but race, socioeconomic status, and so on (Crenshaw, 2021). Therefore, intersectional feminism is an approach that considers all the ways in which any individual woman can experience bias, injustice, and prejudice, and how some women are more prone to being "hit" than others (Sharkey, 2022).

Crenshaw wonderfully illustrates how without the acknowledgment that women of color experience compounded discrimination, their realities are dismissed and invalidated by those who are privileged. In her article “Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics,” Crenshaw analyzes the insincere rhetoric of anti-discrimination and antiracist policies with regard to Black women, and gives examples of how courts are able to distort and reframe the experiences of these women by failing to recognize their intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1989). In three separate court cases that Black women brought upon employers with regard to discrimination, the courts failed to see how these women were experiencing injustices as Black women as most anti-discrimination doctrine pertains to two main groups: Black men and White women. These Black women were shielded in these cases only as far as their encounters coexisted with the experiences of Black men and White women, and their claims were dismissed as groundless.

Another way to illustrate how using intersectional feminist lens is important is to analyze the well-known fact that on the dollar, women make significantly less than their male counterparts. What we are failing to include here is if you look at this problem intersectionally, you will find that women of color make significantly less on the dollar than White women. To break it down even further, Hispanic women make significantly less than Black women (Sharkey 2022). Without viewing any social injustice issue through an intersectional lens, there are large groups of people who are ousted and become invisible to any possible solutions.

I present my research to you with three separate goals in mind. One, I want you to see that without addressing these issues from an intersectional standpoint, the empowering of women is thwarted. To make any real change regarding women's issues, those most affected must be the most visible and at the forefront of the issue. Two, I want you to see that addressing race matters. There is no such thing as "colorblind" or "I see all people as equals." The hard truth is racism is very real, and until we all come to grips and acknowledge that fact, little progress will be made. Three, I want you to be inspired to take action and do whatever work you need to do within yourself to start addressing these injustices. Educating yourself is power, and working from the inside out is where change begins. Thank you, and welcome to my compendium.