Breaking free from siloes: intersectionality as a collective action frame to address toxic exposures and reproductive health

ABSTRACT

There has been increasing interest in collaborative approaches between the environmental justice (EJ) and reproductive justice (RJ) movements to address the higher burden of toxic exposures and associated reproductive health outcomes in vulnerable communities. This study examined the collective action frames (CAFs) of advocates at the EJ/RJ nexus. CAFs highlight how advocates identify problems and solutions, and motivate action. The use of intersectionality was identified as a main CAF used in three key ways: breaking free from identity-based, issue-based, and movement-based siloes. First, interviewees described breaking free from identity-based siloes by identifying risks of toxic exposures that result from intersecting social locations (e.g. gender, race/ethnicity, income, immigration status) and by equally prioritizing multiple aspects of their identities as they engage in advocacy. Second, they described breaking free from issue-based siloes by developing multi-issue agendas that address a complex web of interrelated problems impacting health. Third, they described breaking free from movement-based siloes by developing cross-movement collaborations to address issues of mutual concern. Among multiple reasons given for cross-movement collaborations, advocates perceived them as valuable in order to disrupt social, political, and economic power imbalances that shape environmental reproductive health inequities, as well as other health and social inequities. Based on these findings, we suggest that intersectionality is a master frame, and thus may be useful to advocates in other social movements addressing intersectional issues. Understanding an intersectionality frame can help to inform advocacy approaches to promote health and health equity, particularly those focused on policies and structural drivers of health.

KEYWORDS:

• Environmental justice (EJ)
• reproductive justice (RJ)
• collective action frames
• intersectionality
• environmental health
• reproductive health

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the study participants who made this research possible by graciously sharing their time and insights. They are also grateful to Marie O’Neill, Cynthia Summers and Louis Graham for their thoughtful input on the research described in this article. Additionally, they want to acknowledge the University of Michigan’s Rackham Graduate School, Graham Sustainability Institute, Institute for Research on Women and Gender, and Riecker Graduate Student Research Fund at the Center for the Education of Women, which provided fellowships and grants to partially support this work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Rebecca Mandell

Rebecca Mandell is a researcher at Arbor Research Collaborative for Health. She received her PhD from the Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her training and expertise include improving health and health equity through policy, community-based approaches, and multi-level interventions. She holds an MS in Society, Human Development and Health from the Harvard School of Public Health and a BA in Romance Languages from Harvard University.

Barbara A. Israel

Barbara A. Israel is a Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her research focuses on the social determinants of health inequities using a community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach. Since 1995, she has worked with community and academic partners to establish and maintain the Detroit Urban Research Center, and its affiliated CBPR partnerships, engaging in multiple basic etiologic research and intervention research projects aimed at increasing understanding and addressing health inequities in Detroit.

Amy J. Schulz

Amy J. Schulz is Professor, Department of Health Behavior and Health Education at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. She received her PhD in Sociology and her MPH in Health Behavior and Health Education from the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on social determinants of health including social and physical environmental contributors to racial, ethnic and socioeconomic health inequities. Since 1998, her research has focused on use of community based participatory approaches to promote social and environmental justice.