Intersectionality is a fundamental theoretical framework that posits human experience is jointly shaped by multiple social positions such as race, gender, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation, and thus cannot be fully understood by examining these positions independently. Rooted in Black feminist theory and first published by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989, this framework was developed to elucidate the experiences of Black women in the U.S. and has since been extended to a wide array of social identities and positions.
While long considered a primary theoretical and methodological tool in qualitative studies, intersectionality’s uptake in quantitative research has been more recent, emerging across various disciplines including epidemiology and public health. However, its transition to quantitative methodology has faced challenges, with concerns raised that core theoretical tenets focusing on social power dynamics and structural inequality are often lost or misinterpreted. Indeed, a significant proportion of applied quantitative articles reviewed failed to define intersectionality (26.9%) or included components not reflective of social power (17.5%).
This systematic review, conducted from 1989 to mid-2020, aimed to characterize the applications of intersectionality in quantitative research, assess the integration of theoretical frameworks, and identify innovative methods that could be applied to health research. The findings highlight that quantitative methods frequently employed are often simplistic (e.g., regression with interactions, cross-classified variables, or stratification) and have been misapplied or misinterpreted, underscoring the need for improved understanding and reporting practices, as well as the development and adaptation of quantitative methods to better align with intersectional theory.
Reference for this article:
Bauer, G. R., Churchill, S. M., Mahendran, M., Walwyn, C., Lizotte, D., & Villa-Rueda, A. A. (2021). Intersectionality in quantitative research: A systematic review of its emergence and applications of theory and methods. SSM – Population Health, 14, 100798. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2021.100798