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Kimberle Crenshaw Intersectionality Case Study

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Civil rights lawyer Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” to describe how individuals and groups possess overlapping social identities that result in unique experiences of oppression. Crenshaw created this term in the critique of anti-discrimination policy that treated race and sex as mutually exclusive categories, effectively excluding women of color from legal protection against discrimination. The effects of this single-axis approach to discrimination are evident in Degraffenreid v. General Motors, a lawsuit in which five Black women plaintiffs accused General Motors of discriminatory firing practices. The plaintiffs argued that General Motors’ “seniority-based layoff system” (Crenshaw 141) unfairly targeted Black women who

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