Celebrating Intersectionality Awareness Month
Date
Understanding Intersectionality
The term intersectionality was devised in 1989 by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, who highlighted how social justice conversations often ignored the layered experiences of people who exist at the intersection of multiple identities. Initially used to describe the unique discrimination faced by Black women, intersectionality has since become a powerful tool for understanding how overlapping social categories, such as race, gender, class, sexuality, disability, age, and faith, impact people’s lives in complex and profound ways.
Intersectionality teaches us that no identity exists in isolation. People experience the world in multifaceted ways, and systems of oppression (like racism, sexism, ableism, or homophobia) do not operate separately; they intersect.
Why Does Intersectionality Awareness Month Matter?
Celebrated each August, Intersectionality Awareness Month provides an opportunity to go beyond narrow-minded thinking. It invites us to recognise how interconnected our identities are and how they shape our experiences, opportunities, and the barriers we face.
In a world where structures often reward simplicity, intersectionality challenges us to embrace complexity, because only then can we build truly inclusive environments. Whether in policy, education, health, or media, the lens of intersectionality helps ensure that no one is left behind.
How Can We Educate Ourselves and Others?
To raise awareness and practice meaningful allyship, we must first do the work of learning, unlearning, and listening. Here are some ways to start:
Learn from Lived Experience
Seek out voices from different communities, especially those who exist at the intersection of multiple marginalised identities. Books, podcasts, panels, blogs, and social media platforms are rich with insight.
Avoiding Assumptions
Recognise that two people who share a similar identity (e.g. both LGBTQIA+) can still have vastly different life experiences based on their race, class, or disability status.
Reflecting and Reassessing
Review policies, personal habits, and workplace practices through an intersectional lens. Are some voices unintentionally excluded? Who is missing from the table?
Celebrate Complexity
A person’s identity cannot be confined to a checkbox. Honour the fullness of people’s experiences, even when it doesn’t fit neatly into categories.
Workplace Inclusion
A diverse workforce is not necessarily an inclusive one. True equity comes when we consider how identities interact and shape employee experience. Here’s how organisations can promote intersectional inclusion:
Employee Networks and Safe Spaces
Encourage employee-led groups that explore intersectional issues, such as race and mental health, or disability and gender identity. These spaces foster understanding and solidarity.
Data with Depth
Beyond collecting demographic data, ask nuanced questions that allow people to self-identify across multiple axes. This helps highlight disparities that surface only at intersections.
Leadership Accountability
Ensure leadership teams are educated about intersectionality and are held accountable for creating systems that reflect this awareness.
Intersectional Training and Storytelling
Integrate intersectional perspectives into DEI workshops. Invite speakers whose experiences cut across multiple identities to share their insights.
Flexible Policies
Implement HR policies that are adaptable and empathetic, because lived realities are not one size fits all.
Intersectionality in Music
Music has always reflected the identity of its creators, and some of the most powerful music emerges from the intersection of culture, struggle, and identity. From blues and hip-hop rooted in Black resistance, to queer icons who found freedom in performance, the history of music is intersectional by nature.
Yet, the industry often struggles to reflect that truth in its structures.
Breaking the Binary
Artists like Janelle Monáe, Anohni, Rina Sawayama, and Lil Nas X challenge traditional labels and genres, embodying race, gender, sexuality, and artistry as fluid and interwoven.
Access and Opportunity
Musicians from marginalised backgrounds often face barriers in funding, exposure, and representation. This is especially true when multiple marginalised identities intersect, for instance, Black trans artists or disabled queer creators.
Recent UK-wide surveys provide revealing insights:
- In the 2024 UK Music Workforce Diversity Survey, representation of people reporting disability, neurodivergence, or long‑term health conditions rose from 14.9% in 2022 to 25.1% in 2024.
- Black, Asian, and ethnically diverse employees now comprise 25.2% of industry roles (up from 21% in 2022). At entry‑level positions that figure jumps to 32.5%, with those aged 16–24 representing 40.6% a significant boost from 23.2% in 2022.
Yet disparities continue. At senior levels, ethnically diverse representation is just 22.1%, and over £45–60k income bands show underrepresentation. White respondents dominate higher bracket.
On intersectional experiences:
- A landmark report by Black Lives in Music found that 63% of Black UK music creators experienced direct or indirect racism; 71% faced microaggressions. Among Black women, 42% reported mental health decline linked to industry conditions, overall, 75% expressed dissatisfaction with the support they received
On a more positive note:
- Women now make up 53.8% of the music‑industry workforce with 61.5% at entry level and 48.3% at senior levels, improving from 40.4% in 2020.
- Representation of women from global majority backgrounds on music trade boards is only 16%, though board gender balance has reached 52% overall.
Building an Intersectional Industry
To repair these inequities, the industry must go further:
- Fund tailored mentorship programmes (e.g. Black Lives in Music “BLIM Connect”) supporting Black, queer, trans, disabled artists into education and careers.
- Commit to accessible performances, venues and tours designed with disability in mind.
- Ensure diverse leadership pipelines through succession planning, board equity goals, and transparent pay-gap reporting (gender, ethnicity, disability).
- Challenge discriminatory norms e.g. banning NDAs used to silence survivors of harassment, as recommended by the UK’s Women & Equalities Committee
These statistics shine a light on both progress and gaps in representation, equity, and support for those at the intersection of marginalised identities. Not only are Black, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and global majority artists underrepresented in leadership and high-paying roles many also face exclusion, discrimination, and inadequate support. Intersectionality in music means moving from token inclusion to systemic transformation.
Celebrating Intersectionality Awareness Month is about embracing differences. By applying an intersectional lens to everything we do, from policy to playlists, we create space for equity, innovation, and collective empowerment.
Resources
https://www.ukmusic.org/equality-diversity/
https://www.inclusionlondon.org.uk/
https://musiciansunion.org.uk/
For more information or to join any of our Employee Networks, please contact:
Helen Choudhury
Head of DEI, CSR and Wellbeing
[email protected]
Safiyah Olaide
DEI, CSR and Wellness Officer
[email protected]
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