SPARK Webinar - Intersectionality: What is it and how can we make it real in our work?

This webinar will be facilitated by two experts from ANROWS. Dr Virginia Mapedzahama is a critical race black feminist theorist and Helen Sowey is a knowledge translation practitioner.

Virginia and Helen describe intersectionality as being a theory, a methodological approach, a practice, and a form of activism. They will explore the black feminist origins of the concept and examine how it has evolved.

This webinar will draw out the connection between intersectionality and inclusive practice, looking at how to apply some tenets of intersectionality, namely:

- self-reflexivity

- listening to people experiencing multiple oppressions, and creating spaces for listening

- collaborating with people experiencing multiple oppressions.

Finally this webinar will examine what it means to be an ally, and why this term is contested.

Participants will have the opportunity to reflect on what intersectionality means for themselves and their practice.

Learning Objectives:

• Naming and exploring a definition of intersectionality in the context of gendered violence 
• Sharing historical and theoretical underpinnings of intersectionality 
• Highlighting the benefits of applying the principles of intersectional theory to practice in the sector

Related Practice Principles:

• 3.1 Services are Evidence informed 
• 5.1 Ensuring Cultural Safety 
• 6.1 Services are client centered and accessible to all. 
  
  

Who should attend

This is for workers, managers and HR representatives in the domestic and family violence and women’s wellbeing sectors, including sexual assault services and women’s shelters.    

About the facilitators

Dr Virginia Mapedzahama (PhD Sociology of Difference) is a Senior Research Officer at ANROWS with 20 years of experience in qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods research with marginalised communities. Virginia’s research interests focus on understanding the social construction of all categories of difference: meanings attached to this difference, how it is signified and lived, as well as its implications. She explores these interests in the context of subjective experiences of sexuality and gendered violence, migration, diaspora, blackness, race, racism and ethnicity, and intersectionality. Virginia is also a fierce advocate for African women’s rights and for the centring of African voices in matters relating to their own experiences in Australia.  

Helen Sowey  is Senior Project Officer in the Evidence to Action team at ANROWS, where she works to translate research evidence into policy and practice. She has qualifications in psychology, public health and anthropology. Helen has 20 years’ experience in the health, legal and human services sectors, and extensive experience working with multicultural communities. Social justice has been the driving force of her career.