Interlocking Systems of Oppression

Abstract

Women in higher education face many challenges as they navigate senior-level administrative positions on college campuses. Much of the existing research on women's leadership in higher education does not highlight the ways in which women of varying overlapping identities navigate leadership uniquely. In this chapter, the authors discuss the need for the theories of intersectionality and positionality, which foreground the intersection of many identities and further contextualize them within systems of power. Through an analysis of existing empirical work, this chapter draws attention to tools and strategies that can be learned from women of multiple oppressed identities and positions of leadership.