Gender Differences and Intersectionality in Community Organizing

ABSTRACT

Little is known about perspectives and strategies of community practitioners and how gender influences organizing. Women and men community organizers were interviewed to gain perspective on the influence of gender on their respective organizing styles and approach, including perceived challenges and benefits associated with gender. Using grounded theory methodology, interview responses were analyzed and themes identified. Interesting differences emerged and responses compelled an intersectional approach to understanding the complexities of male and female responses about gender and other categories of power and oppression, including race, class and ability. Female organizers’ responses demonstrate that the women were more aware of their social position, compared to men. They described their experiences as being embedded in a dominant culture of White, male privilege. The male organizers tended to describe their experience absent of a cultural context or they described themselves as being targets of gender discrimination, with interesting exceptions. Overall themes suggest that gender does influence organizing practice, styles and experiences; and that further research should consider gender from an intersectional perspective.

KEYWORDS:

• Gender
• feminism
• masculinities
• intersectionality
• community organizing

Notes

1. The terms male and female are used to indicate participants’ language, as interview questions were framed under those terms. Reflexively, we have since adopted the more current terminology; which reflects gender, rather than sex assigned at birth; thus, the terms man/men and woman/women are used to indicate our language.