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Ann Denis
University of Ottawa
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groups and, more importantly, how they are changing, rather than with
the definition or representation of such groups per se’ (McCall, 2005:
1785), in particular the existence and (changing) nature of meaningful
inequalities between groups. Unlike the other two approaches, this one is
multi-group and comparative in its emphasis. It analyses the full gamut
of dimensions of multiple categories, allowing a simultaneous and
explicit examination of both advantage and disadvantage, by using quan-
titative methods. The very complexity of such analysis explains, accord-
ing to McCall, why there are separate research specialties on gender, class
and ethnicity/race, and only rare attempts combine them. She draws on
her own research (McCall, 2001) to illustrate how, using this approach, she
has concluded that ‘no single dimension of overall inequality can ade-
quately describe the full structure of multiple, intersecting and conflicting
dimensions of inequality . . . [and] some forms of inequality seem to arise
from the same conditions that might reduce other forms, including,
potentially, a conflict between reducing gender inequality and reducing
inequality among women’ (McCall, 2005: 1791). In the Canadian context,
I think it has also been the complexity of mixed locations that has spurred
some of the interest in intersectionality. One example of this complexity is
the bimodal occupational distribution of immigrant women (whether fur-
ther differentiated in terms of their ethnic/racial origin or not) (see, for
example, Denis, 1986, Boyd, 1999 and references in Stasiulis’s 1987 review,
although these are nascent analyses in terms of the challenges McCall
articulates). Another is the changing relations between French-speaking
Canadians inside and outside Québec – more specifically in the present
analysis the changing relations among the women (Denis, 2001; Juteau-Lee
and Roberts, 1981). McCall’s (2005: 1789–92) summary illustration of an
intercategorical analysis demonstrates how this methodology of intersec-
tional analysis uses, but goes beyond, complex statistical analysis: the
analysis is contextualized by qualitative contextualization, which
enhances its richness.
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Notes
1. On the basis of my reading and my discussions with feminist sociologists from
a fairly wide range of different national sociological traditions, I think this is an
accurate claim. I feel on surer ground in relation to English and French schol-
ars, since this is the literature with which I am most acquainted. I make no
claims for literature outside of sociology, and within sociology I know some
would consider that this statement of premises is excessively minimalist.
2. The form – inequality, discrimination, exploitation, appropriation – varies
depending on the particular current within feminism.
3. The commitment may involve activism by the individual feminist or provid-
ing material that can be used by others in their activist endeavours.
4. The Québecois interdisciplinary journal Recherches féministes [Feminist
Research] began later, in 1988.
5. I omit reference to Guillaumin’s (1995) materialist – as distinct from Marxist
– feminism because her publications were not readily available in English
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until 1995, and intersectional analysis mainly developed within the Anglo-
American world until very recently.
6. I intentionally name both concepts here because, although I follow
Schermerhorn (1970: 12) in considering ‘race’ as a marker of the more general
concept of ‘ethnic group’, I am sensitive to the fact that there are others who
consider it to be a separate (and more important) concept.
7. This concept is more dynamic than that of ‘social status’.
8. Articles in Stasiulis and Yuval-Davis (1995) and Tastsoglou and Dobrowolsky
(2006) indicate its use by feminists in other settler societies but I have not
explored that literature enough to feel competent to comment on it.
9. In fact, with the exception of the Metropolis centre in Halifax, where Evangelia
(Evie) Tastsoglou laboured hard to ensure a space for feminist approaches,
feminists working on ethnicity/race throughout Canada have found that their
feminist interests were marginalized within the Metropolis framework and a
number have therefore chosen not to be associated with Metropolis.
10. French speakers located elsewhere in Canada, where they constitute a lin-
guistic minority, although with certain linguistic rights because theirs is one
of the two official languages in Canada/Québec.
11. She underlines that it is only in relation to the ‘foreign’ headscarf that these
individuals have sprung to the defence of women’s equality (Delphy, 2006:
59–61). It was only in 1970 that French married women ceased to be legal
minors, appropriated by their husbands.
References
Abu-Laban, Yaseem and Gabriel, Christina (2002) Selling Diversity: Immigration,
Multiculturalism, Employment Equity and Globalization. Peterborough: Broadview
Press.
Adam, Dyane, eds (1996) Femmes francophones et pluralisme en milieu minoritaire
[Francophone Women and Pluralism in a Minority Context]. Ottawa: University of
Ottawa Press.
Agnew, Vijay (1996) Resisting Discrimination: Women from Asia, Africa, and the
Caribbean and the Women’s Movement. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Alexander, M. Jacqui and Mohanty, Chandra Talpade, eds (1997) Feminist Genealogies,
Colonial Legacies, Democratic Futures. New York and London: Routledge.
Amos, Valerie and Parmar, Pratibha (1984) ‘Challenging Imperial Feminism’,
Feminist Review 17: 3–19.
Anthias, Floya and Yuval-Davis, Nira (1983) ‘Contextualising Feminism: Gender,
Ethnic and Class Divisions’, Feminist Review 15: 62–73.
Bailey, Barbara and Leo-Rhynie, Elsa, eds (2004) Gender in the 21st Century.
Kingston, Jamaica: Ian Randle.
Bannerji, Himani (2000) The Darker Side of Nation: Essays on Multiculturalism,
Nationalism and Gender. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press.
Barriteau, Eudine (1994) ‘Gender and Development Planning in the Post Colonial
Caribbean: Female Entrepreneurs and the Barbadian State’, PhD dissertation,
Howard University, Washington, DC.
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Davis, Angela (1981) Women, Race and Class. New York: Random House.
Delphy, Christine (2006) ‘Antisexisme ou antiracism? Un faux dilemme’
[‘Antisexism or Antiracism? A False Dilemma’], Nouvelles questions féministes
25(1): 59–83.
Denis, Ann (1981) ‘Femmes: ethnie et occupation au Québec et en Ontario’
[‘Women: Ethnicity and Occupation in Québec and Ontario’], Canadian Ethnic
Studies 13(1): 75–90.
Denis, Ann (1986) ‘Adaptation to Multiple Subordination? Women in the Vertical
Mosaic’, Canadian Ethnic Studies 18(3): 61–74.
Denis, Ann (2001) ‘Multiple Identities . . . Multiple Marginalities: Franco-Ontarian
Feminism’, Gender and Society 15(3): 453–7.
Denis, Ann and Ollivier, Michèle (2003) ‘How Wired are Canadian Women?’, in
Andrea Martinez and Meryn Stuart (eds) Out of the Ivory Tower, pp. 251–69.
Toronto: Sumach Press.
Eichler, Margrit (1985) ‘And the Work Never Ends: Feminist Contributions’,
Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology 22(5): 619–44.
Fédération nationale des femmes canadiennes-françaises (1981) Femmes et
Francophones: double infériorité [Women and French-Speaking: Double Inferiority].
Ottawa: La Fédération nationale des femmes canadiennes-françaises.
Feminist Review (1998) Special issue on ‘Rethinking Caribbean Difference’, No. 59.
Garceau, Marie-Luce, ed. (1992) Relevons le défi [Let Us Rise to the Challenge].
Ottawa: Presses de l’Université d’Ottawa.
Gill, Margaret and Massiah, Joycelin, eds (1984) Women and Work. Cave Hill,
Barbados: Institute of Social and Economic Research, University of the West
Indies.
Guillaumin, Colette (1995) Racism, Sexism, Power and Ideology. London and New
York: Routledge.
Haase-Dubosc, Danielle and Lal, Maneesha (2006) ‘De la Postcolonie et des
femmes: apports théoriques du postcolonialisme anglophone aux etudes
féministes’ [About Postcolonialities and Women: Theoretical Contributions of
English Language Postcolonialism to Feminist Studies], Nouvelles questions
féministes 25(3): 33–55.
Hébert, Monique, Kermoal, Nathalie and Leblanc, Phyllis, eds (1997) Entre le
quotidien et le politique. Facettes de l’histoire des femmes francophones en milieu
minoritaire [Between Daily Life and the Political: Aspects of the History of Women in
a Minority Context]. Gloucester, ON: Le Réseau national d’action education
femmes.
hooks, bell (1981) Ain’t I a Woman? Black Women and Feminism. Boston, MA: South
End Press.
hooks, bell (1984) Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center. Boston, MA: South End
Press.
Juteau, Danielle (1999a) ‘From Nation-Church to Nation-State: Evolving
Sex–Gender Relations in Québec Society’, Caren Kaplan, Norma Alarcón and
Minoo Moallem (eds) Between Women and Nation, pp. 142–61. Durham, NC and
London: Duke University Press.
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résumé: Cet essai sur le féminisme porte essentiellement sur l’analyse intersection-
nelle; celle-ci, encore á ses débuts, constitue une contribution théorique impor-
tante du féminisme á la sociologie. L’analyse intersectionnelle consiste à analyser
simultanément de multiples foyers de subordination/oppression qui se croisent
et agissent en interaction. On trouve les premières publications basées sur ce
type d’analyse vers 1980 en Amérique du Nord et en Grande-Bretagne mais ce
n’est qu’une dizaine d’années plus tard que l’usage en est devenu plus répandu.
Son développement á différents rythmes dans diverses parties du monde fait
l’objet d’une étude de quelques cas, de même en ce qui concerne les divers gen-
res de publications dans lesquelles cette analyse est appliquée.
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