Intersectionality was born through the work of Kimberle Crenshaw more than thirty years ago, out of a need to tackle different forms of marginalisation, exclusion and discrimination by providing an understanding of :

 the depth of the inequalities, 

 the relationships among them in any given context.

Yet, even if intersectional discrimination is increasingly considered within civil society activism at national and international level, it remains a little-known concept and practical application of intersectional inclusion in legislative processes, policymaking and practice remains very limited.

The "Intersectionality Transforms Our Realities" campaign of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe aims to :

 raise public awareness about intersectional discrimination, 

 provide insights and tools for professionals and activists to put intersectional inclusion into practice in their work.  

Intersectional discrimination happens when two or multiple grounds operate simultaneously and interact in an inseparable manner, producing distinct and specific forms of discrimination.

Sandra Fredman May 2016

 The campaign is part of the awareness-raising project “Promoting diversity and equality”. The project is co-funded by the governments of Spain and Portugal. It aims to reinforce gender mainstreaming in intercultural dialogue and interregional cooperation by providing large public with the means to deconstruct harmful stereotypes according to the context of their respective realities in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Part of it, a training on Gender Equality in the Media was organised in 2021 with more than 15 journalists in the regions. 

In parallel, a core group of six young experts with complementary experience and expertise from the regions gathered in order to reflect on strategies of overcoming gender and cultural prejudices in public perception as well as presenting an unbiased portrayal of women in all their diversity and plurality. For more than 6 months, the core group compiled relevant information on the theme of intersecting discrimination against women and girls in the EMEA region and proposed a series of key recommended actions aiming at preventing and combating discrimination applicable in any context.

These recommended actions included the need to promote understanding of the issue of intersectionality and the causes and consequences of multiple discrimination against women and girls. The campaign developed with the support of I Dare for Sustainable Development Organisation is one of the concrete applications of these recommended actions also aiming at improving the mainstreaming of intersectionality at large scale. 

The content and views expressed in this webpage is the result of a collaborative work, together with the experts and is not to be taken as the official opinion of North-South Centre of the Council of Europe.