Intersectionality
Paulette M. Caldwell’s in “A Hair Piece: Perspectives on the intersection of race and gender”, argues that feminism, akin to any other emancipatory movement, must account for factors beyond only one’s gender or sexuality.
In India, caste interplays with crimes against women, in that as Sociologist Sanjay Shrivastava notes, “…rape is also a contest among men” concerning the rape of Dalit women by upper-caste men. The NCRB also reports that over four Dalit women are raped every day, with a “sense of immunity”, as Mariam Dhawale bemoans.
Similarly, Caldwell observes such an intersectional nexus between patriarchy and racism, in relation to the case of Rogers v. American Airlines in which the Court upheld American Airlines’ prohibition on braided hairstyles.
She objects to this, first, as the Court erred in distinguishing between “immutable” aspects of race with “artificial” characteristics – such as braiding, that are “socio-culturally associated” with black women. Racism necessarily covers not only biological terms but also the latter as it is a complex of historical and sociocultural “associations” with race.
Second, she notes that most black women braid their hair across the world, especially to prevent entry of chemical toxins and consequent damage. In holding there was no discrimination as black women braided their hair of their own “volition”, their inequality was only reinforced.
The culture of prejudice, reflected in Rogers, defined black women as subordinate not only to men but also to all other women on the basis of race, showcasing intersectionality.
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