The interconnectedness of the social determinants of health, health risk factors and intersectionality of lived experience of women in our community means that health promotion and primary prevention approaches cannot be ‘one size fits all’ – interventions must be based on a clear understanding of the need and issues at hand, available evidence and tailoring of interventions to create agreed change.

Intersectionality means paying attention to the ways “systems of inequality interlock to create conditions for either health equity or health inequalities."

“every [woman’s] experience is fundamentally different that the experience of others, based on their unique identity and structural positions within systems of inequality and structural impediments”

- Lopez & Gadsden, 2016.

In the SMR, we have LGAs that experience significantly more privilege and those that experience significantly higher rates of oppression. This can be approached in terms of socio-economic status, employment prospects, living standards and health outcomes.

An intersectional approach… starts with diversity instead of commonality. Such an understanding may be arrived at by bringing the voices and experiences of marginalized women to the centre of analysis, rather than positioning them at the margins to be defined by their ‘difference from’ the universalized centre.

Murdolo & Quiazon in Chen, 2017

A framework for intersectional practice in primary prevention and health promotion

The Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health (MCWH) developed a framework for how primary prevention work can be undertaken meaningfully in immigrant and refugee communities.

While written specifically for the practice of primary prevention of violence against women, it is one of the few practical support guidelines available for health promotion and primary prevention activity with an intersectional lens.

The MCWH framework advice:

  1. Broaden your understanding of feminist histories, movements and advocates … People have taken action to promote gender equality throughout history all over the world … We should celebrate diverse local and international role models and social movements that have fought and continue to fight for women’s rights.
  2. Frame prevention around global human rights [which] can help people to contextualise violence and gender inequality as a global issue and a common goal.
  3. Think long-term … engagement means building long-term relationships with communities, respecting that change doesn’t follow a set schedule, and taking responsibility for your impact on the individuals and communities that you are working with. Prevention initiatives to change attitudes and behaviour may require multiple and repeated approaches and should be reviewed in the light of new evidence or information about best practice … Remember, attitudinal change and structural change must go hand in hand for effective prevention.
  4. Language matters … It is important to avoid jargon and seek the expertise of immigrant and refugee women to make sure messages are clear, relevant and meaningful to the audience you want to reach. Focusing on the positive benefits that flow from gender equality can encourage people to take more active roles as agents and leaders of change in their families, social networks and the wider Australian community.
  5. Make the connections between gendered inequality and other forms of inequality. If you talk about gender inequality and ignore all the other forms of inequality that immigrant and refugee communities may be experiencing, your message will either be lost of worse, be misunderstood as insincere … Understanding the intersections between and across forms of discrimination, including gendered inequality, is important to meaningful prevention.
MCWH: Intersectionality Matters Guide

Best Practice for Intersectionality

"Remember there’s more to migrants … It is important to tailor programs to reach immigrant and refugee women and men as members of particular ethnic communities. But it is not the only frame of reference for meaningful engagement."

“Challenge ‘cultural’ explanations for violence. Violence against women and gender inequality exists across all Australian communities. Some groups of women in Australia are known to be at a higher risk of experiencing gendered violence. However, this is currently no evidence that any one community, immigrant or otherwise, is more or less violent than any other.”

"Think about what it means to ‘represent a community’ … Often, immigrants and refugees are perceived to be speaking for, and on behalf of, their community or communities, whether they meant to, and whether the community agrees or not … Similarly, communities are often held accountable for the opinions and actions of an individual who happens to be from an immigrant or refugee background … No individual speaks for a whole community … If you are engaging community members, take steps to ensure that your engagement is well-thought out and meaningful, and that you don’t expect one person to represent a whole group.”

"Notice how often cultures can change … Cultures are often strongly shaped by time and place, and they are always changing. Moreover, although cultures can reflect a set of shared values, they do not determine any one individual’s beliefs or behaviour.”

"Practice self-reflection … Self-reflection helps us to remember that we are participants in culture. Self-reflection also helps us to notice when our position in a dominant culture gives us an advantage or a greater degree of privilege or power in relation to other people … Reflecting on the privilege our social positions give us helps us to understand the complexities of culture and cross-cultural exchange.”

"Pay attention to inequalities within communities. An intersectional perspective helps us to think about the ways in which people can experience privilege and oppression simultaneously and differently across different situations and settings. Being part of a community doesn’t mean that we will all experience the same types of disadvantages or privilege in the same way … Inequality and privilege exist within and across communities in ways which can impact people’s connections to communities, experiences and perspectives.”

"Be open to addressing the issues … To make positive changes we must first hear and acknowledge the existence of both racism and sexism in the lived experiences and realities of immigrant and refugee women and their communities.”