1. Diversity Management and Equal Opportunities
Intersectionality and Multidimensionality

2. Intersectionality
The term intersectionality refers to the interlinking of different inequality generating structural categories. Intersectional theory aims therefore to analyse and illustrate the interaction between different positions of social inequality, so that forms of oppression and discrimination are not additively aligned together but rather they are considered in terms of their interlinking and interaction.
Intersectionality considers from a critical perspective how specific people are affected by discrimination (e.g. on the grounds of their gender, ethnic origin, disability, age, sexual orientation and economic standing); that is how these can combine to produce a specific discriminatory situation. Based on this starting point the social, economic and political factors connected to the situation are analysed as well as the ideologies, media portrayed images and constantly repeating stereotypes through which the situation has been reproduced.

3. The starting point of this concept dates back to the Mid-19th Century, when the overlaps between racism, sexism and the class structure were debated within the context of the feminist movement. During the 1990s intersectionality became a topic of debate once more, particularly in the USA within the context of Black Feminism.

4. Discrimination has many faces
-ism
Diversity dimension
The “Norm”
Sexism
Gender group
Man / Woman
Heterosexism
Sexual orientation
Heterosexual person
Racism
Skin colour
White
Ageism
Age
Young people
Ableism
Person with a disability
Person without a disability
Islamophobism
Religion / World view
Christian
Classism
Social standing
Middle class

5. Multidimensional, intersectoral discrimination
“I am a woman and a human: a Marxist feminist critique of intersectionality theory” - Eve Mitchell
Imagine: you are black woman with a mobility disability and your native language is Swedish. What effect would you have on your immediate environment? How do you think your immediate environment would affect you? What influence could this combination of characteristics have on a job interview?
Imagine: you are an elderly man, a professed homosexual and single. Ask yourself the above question in relation to this scenario!