Marjolein Dennissen

71 An intersectional analysis of diversity networks I enter with my wheelchair, I am the exception there again. And if I enter the gay group with my wheelchair, then I have the same. And that is quite difficult sometimes, because I think... you go in because you are gay, but in the meantime, I am also that disabled that enters there. And well… you cannot prevent it, but you do have the feeling a little bit that you have to choose. In contrast to Sonya, Alice problematizes the network’s structure and displays a personal discomfort with regard to the focus on single categories. Reflecting on which network to join, Alice feels that she has to choose between diversity networks. Alice’s account illustrates that the single category networks leave little room for the intersection of multiple subordinate identities. As diversity networks revolve around one subordinate identity category, other identity categories and their intersections are overlooked. For instance, the central category within the LGBT network is LGBT, and the subordinate position of LGBT employees is their key focus. LGBT employees are regarded as a homogeneous category and possible differences within this particular category are neglected. Due to the network’s focus on one single identity, Alice feels the odd one out and an exception by being the disabled in the LGBT network, or the lesbian in the disability network. Alice’s quote exemplifies that the single category structure has implications particularly for networkmembers withmultiple subordinate identities, such as for example disabled lesbian women. This resonates with what Crenshaw (1989) has termed intersectional marginalization , i.e., the marginalization of multiple subordinate identities. Network members with multiple subordinate identities are marginalized relative to members with a single subordinate identity, and as a result, possible tensions arise. Instead of questioning the single category structure of diversity networks, Alice takes the structure for granted and makes her discomfort a personal issue rather than a network issue. Challenging the single category structure The third fragment is from Selma, a member of both the women’s network Ladies with ambition and the ethnic minority network in Finance. Whereas Alice’s strategy is to take up the experienced tension with the single category structure as a personal issue, Selma questions the network itself. Instead of internalizing the problem, Selma challenges the single category structure of the women’s network: I have a bicultural background myself too, so I think that is very important as well (…) I once started with the [ethnic minority] network (…) and I noticed that when I moved to gender, that my purpose was also… not only to support women and to help them in their ambition, but also cultural, with a cultural background. (…) And I think I fulfill a double role. If you have awomen’s network, an event, then you have more biculturals as well. So how can you have both, let’s say striking down two flies with one swing.