Gender Issues Related to Intersection Theory Essay

The society we are living in strives to attain equality in all aspects. These include the people’s race, class, and gender. It is evident that most places in the world today would want equal treatment for everyone, no matter what color of skin you have, no matter what class you were brought up into, and no matter what your gender is. There still are obvious distinctions between people, but it is not much of a concern in today’s society. This is what most of us aims for, despite the obstacles getting in the way. Despite all the efforts towards breaking the barriers of inequality, it still remains a big problem for our society, as it is difficult to do away with the things that people have been accustomed to. The most prevalent of all are gender related issues, the superiority complex between men and women, who get to boss around and who get to follow. These gender related issues can be traced back in the early years of the world’s history, as it was the men who were deemed to be superior to women. They were the ones which held great positions in the society, while women were treated as an ornament or something material. Later studies in the interaction of people in the society came up with the concept of an â€Å"intersection theory. † The intersection theory is a concept which relates a person’s race, socioeconomic status, and gender to their personal constructs and perceptions of reality. There was a growing call for the consideration of various interactions and interrelations among the people’s races, classes and their gender. Aggregations between women or men are not enough to be able to describe an individual’s position in a society he or she belongs to. Those who advocate this intersection theory aimed to devise new research strategies wherein they could effectively incorporate all three dimensions of stratification (race, class, gender) simultaneously in just a single frame of analysis. According to an article, gender class, race, and culture are the essential or the core components of a person’s identity formation, and are interlocking categories of experience that affects various aspects of human life. This is from the article The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Class: An Overview and Guide to Teaching. According to this, throughout a person’s life, the factors which continually shape an individual’s image of himself and his place in the world are essentially the identity constructs of gender, race, class and culture. This article attempts to explore various multiple and dynamic intersections of one’s gender with race, culture, and class in the aspect of psychosocial identity formation. This is in order to reduce or minimize the risk from homogenizing or the polarization of the society’s understandings of these various characteristics. The goal was to be able to promote a dialogue among various helping professionals when it comes to the role of these simultaneous intersections, including its effect on the lives of clients, as well as address their problems, and to mainly empower them as individuals. This is much better than focusing on one aspect of identity only. In an article by Susanna George, she discusses about the intersectional approach which has been used for quite some time already, but is not duly recognized by many regarding concerns about gender, race, and class. The article Why Intersectionality Works talks more in terms of the positive consequences brought about by these identities. When it comes to the context of gender, George discusses that women continued to ponder on how gender affected their lives. But women are not the only ones involved with gender or sexism. Men as well, are driven towards an orientation towards success, competition, and the need to be in control because they are gendered beings, and were greatly influenced by these rigid and sexist discourses about how men should be and should not be. A series of seminars entitled Theorizing Race, Gender, and Class: A New Paradigm for Social Research, discussed how the society is slowly adapting towards the things being taught to a group of diverse audience. This is spearheaded by Dr. Bart Landry, wherein he talks about the emerging paradigm of Intersection Theory and Analysis. Through this, people are able to understand more about what is being taught, since their race, ethnicity, and gender are put into consideration. The problems regarding writing and teaching are being scrutinized so that the concern regarding the intersection of racial, ethnic, sexual, as well as the national origin diversities are being met and properly addressed. An article by the group, PeaceWomen: Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom tackled about various relationships among women’s gender identity constructs, in line with the economic justice. The article Statement on Global Economy: Gender, Class and Racism hypothesized on various relationships regarding gender self-definition, as well as female identity development statuses and between gender self-acceptance and female identity development statuses. They also integrated feminist analysis of economic issues at a global level, where they intersected various elements of information that affects economy on the largest scale. Some of these hypothesis were supported and strengthened, including the finding which positively correlates gender self definition and self acceptance to ethnic identity. In David Levering Lewis Beyond Exclusivity: Writing Race, Class, Gender into U. S. History, the author discussed how scholars heavily relied on various images of race, class, and gender being viewed as â€Å"intersecting and interlocking† types of oppression and disempowerment mainly on women. This clearly defined how various feminists were able to come up with premises stating that race, class, and gender are social structural locations. These structural locations are the ones responsible for shaping up various perspectives. They also stated that there is no individual who is all-oppressed or all-oppressing, and that the meanings of race, class and gender are usually localized. These three all depend on and mutually constitute each other. In an article by Karen Hardee, there is a discussion on how gender, access and quality of care in reproductive services varied from different places. The factors include social categories of gender, sexuality, class and ethnicity including their relation to various subjectivities has attracted several theoretical attentions. The article The Intersection of Gender, Access, and Quality of Care in Reproductive Services: Examples from Kenya, India, and Guatemala, showed how the authors considered how these identities of class, gender and sexuality interrelate in practice. They achieved this b drawing and pondering on an empirical study of several women in the wine industry which they have undertaken, as well as the selection of some contemporary works which could be considered as links to multiple social categories. Conclusion Gender issues can be viewed from various perspectives. It could be from the point of view of the oppressed or from the vantage point of the oppressor. But looking closely at these issues, we could see that it is somewhat related to matters of equal importance. This includes concerns like race, class, or ethnicity, and no matter how one looks at it, there is truly a relationship between different identities. Because of this, it is important not to tackle one issue alone, instead take them as a whole, in order to better understand the matter. Gender issues are indeed, matters which should not be taken lightly. Quality of Sources: http://www. cofc. edu/~winfield/socy354/intersections. html This source is not biased because it demonstrated how intersection theory can be applied in various empirical studies through a series of testing. It is also from an educational institution which is why the information can be verified through an inquiry. http://www. isiswomen. org/wia/wiawcar/intersectionality. htm This source is biased because the author injected her own opinion regarding the concept of intersection of gender with other identities. This information is from a feminist organization, so the bias is clearly towards women. www. bsos. umd. edu/socy/People/Faculty/Syllabi/socy682_blandry. pdf This source is somewhat biased, as the author gave his perspective on the topic, injecting personal accounts and opinions in her discussions. But the credibility is still there, and it aims to educate people through a series of seminars. http://www. peacewomen. org/resources/Racial_Discrimination/csw2001race. html This source is somewhat biased, as it discussed various issues on gender and the global economy while addressing on the concerns of women empowerment. This information is also from a feminist organization so the bias would be towards women. silverdialogues. fas. nyu. edu/docs/CP/301/leveringlewis. pdf This source is biased as it offered the authors own perspective regarding the concepts of social inequality, including the various intersections of class, age, gender, ethnicity, and race. The content however, is credible, as it is supported by concrete information from other sources presented by the author. www. prb. org/pdf05/IntersectionOfGender. pdf The source is not biased and is credible because it illustrates various situations on the intersection of gender with other identities in the context of different countries. It is descriptive without the author injecting her personal views on the topic. http://www. classism. org/home_intersection. html The source is biased because it seeks to persuade people regarding the various identities, so its bias would be those who are negatively affected by this matter. http://gateway. nlm. nih. gov/MeetingAbstracts/102262300. html The source is not biased and is credible because it conducted a series of tests in order to arrive at a certain conclusion, without the author injecting personal opinion about the research and how it should turn out.http://he-cda. wiley. com/WileyCDA/HigherEdTitle/productCd-0787976636. html The source is biased because the article is highly opinionated, where arguments from the author are mainly her own perspective. www. courts. state. pa. us/Index/Supreme/BiasCmte/FinalReport. ch14. pdf The article is not biased, as it was able to arrive at a conclusion by means of a series of test regarding a certain concern. References: 2002. The Intersection of Racial and Gender Bias. www. courts. state. pa. us/Index/Supreme/BiasCmte/FinalReport.ch14. pdf. February 4, 2008. Classism. org. 2007. Intersections: Race, Class & Gender. http://www. classism. org/home_intersection. html. February 4, 2008. Susanna George. 2001. Why Intersectionality Works. http://www. isiswomen. org/wia/wiawcar/intersectionality. htm. February 4, 2008. Karen Hardee. 2005. The Intersection of Gender, Access, and Quality of Care in Reproductive Services: Examples from Kenya, India, and Guatemala. www. prb. org/pdf05/IntersectionOfGender. pdf. February 4, 2008. Bart Landry. 2003. Theorizing Race, Gender, and Class: A New Paradigm for Social Research. www. bsos. umd. edu/socy/People/Faculty/Syllabi/socy682_blandry. pdf. February 4, 2008. David Levering Lewis. 2001. Beyond Exclusivity: Writing Race, Class, Gender Into U. S. History. silverdialogues. fas. nyu. edu/docs/CP/301/leveringlewis. pdf. February 4, 2008 PeaceWomen. org. 2001. Statement on Global Economy: Gender, Class and Racism. http://www. peacewomen. org/resources/Racial_Discrimination/csw2001race. html. February 4, 2008. L. Roberts. 2003. The Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, Class and Gender in Adolescent Dating Relationships: An Exploratory Study of Intimate Violence and HIV Risk. http://gateway. nlm. nih. gov/MeetingAbstracts/102262300. html. February 4, 2008. Amy J. Schulz. 2005. Gender, Race, Class and Health: Intersectional Approaches. http://he-cda. wiley. com/WileyCDA/HigherEdTitle/productCd-0787976636. html. February 4, 2008. The Institute for Teaching and Research on Women. 2006. The Intersection of Race, Gender, and Class: An Overview and Guide to Teaching. http://www. cofc. edu/~winfield/socy354/intersections. html. February 4, 2008.