Intersectionality and decolonising organisations
Part of the 'Equity Change Project'
Introduction
This section aims to help you question where the knowledge, systems and practice of your organisation came from using an intersectional lens.
Decolonising organisations
Where we see bad practice, we need to have the courage to say ‘this is not right’, otherwise things repeat.
Change Project participant
In the UK, the way we understand the world, what we know, how we organise ourselves and what we do are all profoundly influenced by the history of conquest, empire and white supremacy. Decolonising is not about throwing history, knowledge or practice away; it is about examining our knowledge and practice and understanding how we came to the place we are, what was privileged and what was lost along the way (Ferguson et al., 2019).
Social care and the organisations that deliver it are socially constructed. They are influenced by who has had social, economic and political power in the past (Tuck & Yang, 2012). Because of this, inequity is perpetuated. The lens of intersectionality provides the means to interrogate what has previously been uncritically accepted.
Intersectionality allows us to look at the knowledge, systems and practice we have now and to see where there are vehicles of oppression that crash into people. We can use this lens to examine the everyday assumptions and the taken-for-granted foundations of our organisation. We can ask why our theories and practices have inequity built in, and where this came from. We can then adjust and adapt. In particular, we can start to see what knowledge and experience has been disadvantaged or disavowed, and identify how we can access this for the future.
Reflective question
Where do I get my knowledge from?
Use the tool below to consider how intersectionality can help question where the knowledge, systems and practice of your organisation came from.
This tool helps you to question where the knowledge, systems and practice of your organisation came from using an intersectional lens, so that you can increase equity by accessing other knowledge and experience.
Example: Taking a lead on intersectionality – ‘walking the talk’
In the Change Project, we talked about the role of leaders and the importance of ‘walking the talk’. Participants provided examples of how they are embedding intersectionality in their organisations:
- We have delivered a webinar on ‘keeping identity at heart of practice’. We are now creating a series of seminars. Thoughtfulness is important in every conversation and intervention. We are raising awareness and creating space to reflect. There is a team of senior managers that is looking at reflections from these spaces and taking accountability for how we act on them.
- Reverse mentoring is being used as a positive way of creating change within the senior leadership team. This enables us to learn from people in different positions and to share some of our experience reciprocally. It changes the power dynamics and the viewpoint.
- We are doing some work to quality assure the Assessed and Supported Year in Employment. We want to make sure it’s a psychologically safe space for all ASYE social workers drawing on evidence of differing experiences for newly qualified social workers from minoritised groups.
- In my organisation we have been having discussions about what safe spaces mean for different people and how when we are discussing issues relating to intersectionality, what one person requires to feel safe may require another to feel the discomfort and fragility aligned within their position of privilege. We have evolved to using the phrase of needing brave spaces to share, make mistakes and challenge each other from a position of positive intention so that psychological safety can become more likely whilst the continuation and maintenance of structural inequalities can be dismantled.
Collection of resources supporting 'Putting intersectionality into action - leadership'.