The impact of other forms of inequality – intersectionality

Violence against women can affect any woman, anywhere; women of all ages, sexualities, and racial, cultural and economic backgrounds are affected.

Experiences of violence against women are informed not just by gender, but also by race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, age, gender identity, and migrant status. The term “intersectionality” refers to the ways that different forms of discrimination interact.

For example, a white middle class woman will experience the world very differently from a BME woman who is visibly Muslim (wears a headscarf) and from a working-class background.

Some examples of how different inequalities affect women’s experiences of violence against women:

• disabled women are twice as likely to experience men’s violence as non-disabled women.[i]
• 83% of trans women have experienced hate crime at some point in their lives.[ii]
• black and minority ethnic (BME) and migrant women face higher levels of domestic homicide, so‐called ‘honour’ killings, and abuse driven suicide.[iii]