Advancing health equity by integrating intersectionality into epidemiological research: applications and challenges
Jennifer Mandelbaum
Abstract
Epidemiological research increasingly recognises that health disparities are driven by complex interplay among factors including housing, education and employment.1 Intersectionality—‘the relationships among multiple dimensions and modalities of social relations and subject formations’—offers a theoretical approach for expanding our understanding of health disparities beyond independent systems of privilege and oppression (eg, racism and sexism).2 Intersectionality theory was developed more than 30 years ago to better understand how various identities interact and produce cumulative impacts across the life course. Still, traditional public health approaches of examining a single exposure and health outcome continue to limit our understanding of how health disparities are experienced across varying classes, races, ethnicities, genders and sexualities.3 Intersectionality theory in health research is often relegated to social science literature, highlighting a missed opportunity for epidemiological research to consider how larger structural inequities shape health. Kimberle Crenshaw, a leader in Black feminist legal theory, …