Does Intersectional Training Endure? Examining Trends in a Global Database of Women's and Gender Studies Graduates (1995-2010)

Authors

  • Michele Tracy Berger University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Keywords:

intersectionality, women's studies undergradauates, undergraduate education, gender

Abstract

The undergraduate experience remains a cornerstone in the foundation of Women’s and Gender Studies yet scholars know little about how graduates retain and demonstrate highly valued skills and concepts like intersectionality. This paper intervenes by answering the questions: How does intersectionality show up in graduates’ reflections on their training? How do graduates utilize intersectional thinking in their personal and professional lives? Drawing on quantitative data from a large, institutionally diverse and global survey of women’s and gender studies graduates, I demonstrate that intersectional training does endure and that graduates draw on intersectional concepts in the personal and professional life, in complex ways, long after graduation. Résumé L’expérience de premier cycle reste un pilier dans la fondation des études sur le genre et les femmes, mais les chercheurs savent peu de choses sur la façon dont les diplômés retiennent et manifestent des compétences et des concepts hautement appréciés comme l’intersectionnalité. Cet article intervient en répondant aux questions suivantes : Comment l’intersectionnalité se manifeste-t-elle dans les réflexions des diplômés sur leur formation? Comment les diplômés utilisent-ils la pensée intersectionnelle dans leur vie personnelle et professionnelle? En me servant des données quantitatives tirées d’une enquête de grande envergure, de grande diversité institutionnelle et mondiale sur les diplômés en études sur le genre et les femmes, je démontre que la formation intersectionnelle persiste et que les diplômés font appel à des concepts intersectionnels dans leur vie personnelle et professionnelle, de façon complexe, longtemps après l’obtention du diplôme.

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Author Biography

Michele Tracy Berger, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Michele Tracy Berger is associate professor in the Department of Women's and Gender Studies at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and the Associate Director of the Faculty Fellows Program at UNC-Chapel Hill’s Institute of the Arts and Humanities.

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Published

2017-06-09

Issue

Vol. 38 No. 1 (2017): What’s Intersectional about Intersectionality Now? & Intersectionality in Austere Times: Boundary Crossing Conversations

Section

38.1- What’s Intersectional about Intersectionality Now?

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