This blog is written by 3S member Nickhil Sharma, who completed a research secondment with the energy policy team at  Citizens Advice. Nickhil works on a European Union funded project researching the social justice aspects of the smart energy transition. In this blog, originally published on Medium, Nickhil shares his insights from an exploratory workshop on intersectionality that he organised, together with Rachel Mills, Senior Policy Researcher at Citizens Advice.

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During the winter of 2023, I had the privilege of being a guest researcher at Citizens Advice in their London office for a period of three months. Through my visits to the office and participation in online meetings, I quickly recognised the extensive knowledge on energy-related issues within the team of policy researchers I collaborated with. As I conducted interviews with various organisations on topics such as fuel poverty, vulnerable households, and the smart transition, it became clear that the research published by them held high regard among numerous organisations. And whether they’re commissioning research projects or designing policy reports to deliver their findings, Citizens Advice consistently place consumers at the forefront of the work.

Prior to my secondment at Citizens Advice, concepts of transformative social justice embedded in intersectional feminist thought had been central to my work. Together with my research supervisors, I’d co-authored a paper about the potential to use intersectionality to critique the deployment of smart technologies in urban settings around the globe. I saw an opportunity, during my time with Citizens Advice, to move beyond the academic setting and explore the opportunities and challenges in using intersectionality in a more practice-based setting, closer to ‘real-world’ examples. This is what led to us co-creating this workshop.

With the support of Rachel Mills, Laura Clark, Zoe Guijaro, and Nadya Ali, I designed a 4.5-hour workshop, held on April 25, 2023, in a hybrid format. The workshop aimed to create a space for discussing these transformative social justice ideas and was attended by 32 people from a variety of policy teams. Dr Tom Hargreaves, and Vinicius Juliani Pereira from the University of East Anglia, and Uttara Narayan from the University of Oxford co-facilitated the workshop alongside me.

So, what is intersectionality?

Kimberlé Crenshaw coined “intersectionality,” showing how gender and race intersect to shape Black women’s unique experiences in the US (1989). Intersectionality considers how gender, race, class, and other social categories overlap, affecting various aspects of life. It exposes how different oppressions combine, leading to unequal power dynamics. It’s not merely a compilation of oppressions; instead, it seeks to understand how they interact and influence each other. As an orientation, intersectionality acknowledges interconnectedness and complexity, rejecting reductionist explanations. It offers transformative thinking to address global crises and enact reparative change. Practising intersectionality involves reflexivity, acknowledging evolving inequalities in different social contexts, and confronting uncomfortable conversations to go beyond superficial changes.

The workshop — what we did and what we learned

The workshop engaged people from across the Policy and Advocacy directorate at Citizens Advice in a critical reflection of their policy work through an intersectional lens. The main goals of the workshop were:

(i) Unpacking

➔ Participants unpacked the diversity of identities among themselves and reflected on the penalties and privileges they create.

➔ Workshop host presented the history of intersectionality, its core principles, common misconceptions about intersectionality, and the 4 metaphors for ‘doing’ intersectionality (see image 3).

➔ Laura Clark and Nadya Ali from Citizens Advice unpacked specific policy research projects they are working on in the organisation which have intersectional themes and opened up a discussion on the importance of intersectionality within policy work.

(ii) Exploring

➔ Participants explored some real-world implications of intersectional thinking, using the 4 metaphors to understand case studies from Bangladesh, France, and the UK.

➔ Participants explored the fresh perspectives, key strengths, and challenges of an intersectional approach in understanding and problematising real-world problems, based on their engagement with the case studies.

(iii) Reflecting & Repacking

➔ Participants analysed recent Citizens Advice work on social justice, using the report on discriminatory pricing and the ‘ethnic penalty’ in the insurance market in the UK. (With thanks to report authors Tilly Cook, Aiden Greenall and Emer Sheehy)

➔ Participants repacked key learnings from the day, by considering the key strengths of the report from an intersectional perspective and reflecting on what methodological/theoretical/descriptive tools could make the findings more intersectional.

➔ Participants identified commonalities in the narratives of oppression and understand how intersectional ideas can unlock a transformative view on justice.

➔ Participants shared concluding thoughts and key insights from the day which they will take back to their respective policy work.

Key takeaways

Fresh Perspectives from an Intersectional Approach

In the discussion on intersectionality, participants highlighted its role in revealing historical contexts of marginalisation and oppression, connecting these histories across multiple social categories to understand their impact on current realities. This approach helped contextualise hidden inequalities, exemplified by the injustices faced by migrant rural women in Bangladesh’s garment industry. Participants also appreciated how intersectionality exposes social policies that pit groups against each other, as seen in the hijab ban in France, where Muslim women’s freedom to choose the hijab clashed with some feminist ideals. This led to conversations on the interconnectedness of identities, emphasising the injustice of forcing individuals to prioritise one identity over another.

Participants also appreciated The Privilege Walk, used as an icebreaker activity, as it enabled them to have a conversation about power, privileges, and multiple identities in a safe setting, which can be rather difficult to bring up in day-to-day work settings. Next time, we would be more careful and deliberate about ensuring anonymity, especially around certain social categories such as gender identity.

Key Strengths of an intersectional approach

In the discussions, participants recognised the value of intersectionality in policy research, emphasising its focus on historical, geopolitical, and discursive forces that shape society without reducing social phenomena to simplistic narratives. This broader perspective allowed for a comprehensive examination of social issues, fostering an ecosystem of discussion that prioritises social justice in policy research. By questioning existing epistemologies, intersectionality encouraged practitioners to explore neglected perspectives and re-evaluate impacts of policies continually. Moreover, it facilitated the recognition of shared struggles, forging solidarity across social groups and promoting a mindful approach to policy implementation, centring the perspectives of the oppressed and striving for transformative, equal societies.

Strengths of the Citizens Advice report on the ‘ethnicity penalty’ from an intersectional perspective

The participants highly praised the report — particularly appreciating the rigorous research methods that effectively conveyed the injustices faced by racial minorities. The report strategically connected injustices across sectors like insurance, banking, and healthcare, acknowledging their interlocking nature. It offered actionable steps for regulators and set a precedent for similar work in other areas, like examining energy data misuse in the energy retail sector. The report made complex ideas accessible, emphasising the role of contexts, data sets, and algorithms in perpetuating discrimination. It urged the need to question those responsible for digital tools and underscored the need for longitudinal, qualitative, and forward-looking studies, highlighting collaboration with specialist charities as crucial in addressing hidden injustices effectively.

Limitations of an intersectional approach

Participants acknowledged that the limitations they encountered in applying intersectional thought stemmed from the contexts in which it was employed, rather than inherent flaws within the ideas. In policy advice and sociotechnical design settings, the complexity of intersectional ideas posed challenges, as more simplified and direct narratives were often required. This could risk compromising the radical and transformative nature of intersectionality and render it inaccessible and abstract.

Reflecting on policy work at Citizens Advice, participants recognised the power and value of an intersectional approach in addressing discrimination. However, the complexity of the projects they were involved in across multiple teams and government departments posed limitations. They suggested incorporating intersectional methods at the problem design stage when research projects are commissioned, making it the norm rather than the exception.

Concerns were raised about how much the focus on marginalised voices could resonate with those in power, such as industry and policymakers, who typically prefer solution-oriented approaches. Striking a balance between amplifying voices and appealing to powerful stakeholders for societal change was seen as essential. Participants also noted that policy organisations like Citizens Advice tend to maintain political neutrality, which could make it challenging to make intersectional arguments that question broader socio-political scenarios. They also recognised the complexities of practising “solidarity not sameness,” acknowledging the pursuit of social justice for all while respecting the diverse differences among different groups. Finding a balance between these aspects was deemed crucial in effectively applying intersectional principles.

Overall, participants really enjoyed the workshop — despite the intellectual labour involved in terms of reading, reflecting, and engaging in dialogue, they appreciated the space to discuss this crucial topic. Bringing transformative social justice back to the day job and into the core focus of policy work is no easy task — but the energy in the room was certainly promising!

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Acknowledgements: This research received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement number 955422.