Combining feminist intersectional and community-engaged research commitments: Adaptations for scoping reviews and secondary analyses of national data sets

Abstract

As Hankivsky & Cormier (2011) and Denis (2008) note, the theoretical evolution of intersectionality has outpaced its methodological development. While past work has contributed to our understanding of how to apply intersectionality in research (CRIAW-ICREF & DAWN-RAFH 2014; Morris & Bunjan 2007; Simpson 2009), gaps persist. Drawing on a four-year community-university research collaboration called ‘Changing public services: Women and intersectional analysis’, we explore the incorporation of feminist intersectional and community-engaged research commitments into secondary data analyses, specifically a scoping review and secondary analyses of two Statistics Canada data sets. We discuss our application of these commitments across all stages of designing and undertaking these analyses, in particular drawing into focus the importance of dialogue and deliberation throughout our process. Our application of feminist intersectional and community-engaged commitments – including prioritising community benefit and practising self-reflexivity – revealed gaps and silences in the data, in turn improving our understanding of differences in people’s experiences, our critiques of policies and our identification of new research questions. The lessons learned, we conclude, are valuable for scholars, whether or not community engagement is central to their scholarly commitment.
 Keywordsfeminist intersectionality, community-engaged research, scoping review, logistic regression, community-university partnerships, Canadian public services

Transnational migration and Mexican women who remain behind: An intersectional approach

“…The use of theoretical frameworks in scoping reviews can help us better understand the relationships among variables [ 9 ] and can provide a clearer direction for future research areas [ 10 ]. Adapting the scoping review methodology with intersectionality theory as a critical framework “can shed light on the experiences of individuals who belong to multiple disadvantaged social groups, such as being black and low income, an immigrant, and/or in poor health” [ 11 , p417].…”

“…For this scoping review, I relied on an intersectionality framework [ 10 ]. Intersectionality seeks to uncover gaps in the literature by centering on those whose experiences and necessities are visible in the literature and on those whose voices are being silenced.…”

Honouring Ann Denis’ contributions to feminist intersectionality

“…In early 2019, we explained our understanding of FI as follows: “gender is a dimension of inequality that must be examined … (rather than being either ignored or assumed), but … a priori assumptions about which dimensions of inequality and power will be most relevant in a particular context should be avoided. FI can also involve considering the patriarchal (and heterosexist) societal context of most, if not all, contemporary societies–including Canada–and the possible influences of this context not only on data analyses, but also on human lives” (Levac & Denis, 2019, p. 4, italics in original). What stood out for me as we worked through this definition was Ann's steadfast commitment to better understanding how the work of feminist scholars needed to evolve to incorporate not only non‐binary understandings of gender, but also the intersection of gender with other social realities informed by age, language, ability, race, class, and other equity‐shaping structures.…”

“…Second, the insights and challenges emerging from the reflexivity required by both feminist intersectionality and community‐engaged research help us identify gaps–and silences–in … available literature and data. These gaps and silences help us better understand differences in people's experiences and raise new research questions” (Levac & Denis, 2019, pp. 2–3).…”

“…gender and Indigeneity, gender and racialisation, gender and disability), it was possible, using logistic regression analyses, … to incorporate simultaneously two dimensions of marginalisation…. By doing regressions for each year, it was possible to discern whether time, as a contextual variable (see Scott & Siltanen, 2017 on levels of analysis), affected the outcomes” (Levac & Denis, 2019, p. 13). Through this process, Ann's conceptual rigour informed our systematic empirical analyses on matters of particular concern to women, across multiple relationships of inequality.…”