Chapter 6: Coming to Terms With the Conundrum of Intersectionality in Gender and Sexuality as Pathways of Addressing Student Intersecting Identities in Higher Education Institutions: A Sociological Perspective

Underpinned by Crenshaw’s intersectional perspective with its roots in critical race and feminist theory, this chapter examines how multiple aspects of identity, such as gender, class and sexual orientation, interact to create unique and complex experiences of oppression and privilege. The intersectionality metaphor is essential for understanding the ways through which multiple forms of inequality sometimes compound themselves and create sophisticated challenges in conventional thinking. The thesis advanced herein is that intersectionality highlights the different aspects of higher education’s (HE’s) individual identities as dependent on each other and interacting to create unique identities and experiences that cannot be understood by analysing each dimension in isolation from its social and historical contexts. Guided by the research question, why is it important to consider the intersecting identity dispositions among HE practitioners (lecturers and students) in the HE sectors, the chapter’s discourse further examines HE practitioners’ need to adopt a gender-sensitive intersectional lens in their day-to-day operations as well as to expose the gaps and challenges associated with intersectional approaches within the HE context. By drawing insights from the intersectionality perspective coupled with the Black feminist theory, the chapter explores why people’s social and political identities more often than not lead to their unique experiences of discrimination and privilege. By examining the philosophical underpinnings of adopting Crenshaw’s intersectional, Bourdieu’s symbolic power and Crenshaw’s Black feminist (gendered) perspectives, the HE practitioners’ intersecting identities and the resultant social stratification culminating in the different sub-cultures, are also explored.