Intersectionality is a concept and thinking tool coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw in 1989. She used the term to describe how Black women in the legal system faced double discrimination - sexism and racism - a compounding factor unrecognised by the courts.

Intersectionality helps us to understand the interconnected nature of social categorisations such as race, class, and gender as they apply to individuals or groups, and how they compound to create systems or experiences of discrimination or disadvantage.

It acknowledges that as individuals or groups, we are made up of not one but multiple, intersecting identities derived from social relations, history and the operation of structures of power.

Intersectionality supports us to explore these multiple identities, and to understand how systems of discrimination cause some people to be marginalised and others to be privileged.

So not only is intersectionality a way of analysing power imbalances, it is also a practical tool that can be used to eliminate imbalances.

Simply put, intersectional economics ensures that the economy works for all people, rather than the other way around.

It does this through taking an intersectional approach to identify and eliminate economic discrimination and disadvantages.

Done well, it results in policies, programs, services and products that contribute to economic equality for all people, especially those most marginalised.

In Australia, migrant and refugee women are more likely to fall through the cracks in our financial and support systems either during the migration process, resettlement or if they experience financial hardship.

Programs and support services can be designed to reach these vulnerable groups more effectively, efficiently and preventatively, by adopting the following intersecting lenses:

• Feminist lens: having women design and deliver the program

• Migrant / lived experience lens: a diverse workforce with lived experience designing and delivering the program will ensure stronger impact

• Social and economic lens: meeting people where they are at and taking into account how they define themselves

• Trauma informed or person-centred lens: supporting programs and services to move beyond stereotypical approaches and meet individuals where they are at.

Intersectional economics is complex and messy work, but so are humans.

This approach supports organisations to move beyond stereotypes, assumptions and unconscious biases to reach a more nuanced and complex understanding of the individuals and groups they are trying to serve.

Intersectional economics is a practical tool that can support purpose-driven organisations to think differently about its own systems, capabilities and strengths, and to unlock and activate work.

The insights gained through an intersectional economics approach can result in those ‘a ha’ moments that lead to program innovation and an increase in social impact.