April 7-9, 2022 • Hyatt Regency • Lexington, KY
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Communication Strategies to Promote Comprehensive Well-being
Abstract: Intersectionality Policymaking Toolkit: Principles for Intersectionality Informed Policymaking to Serve Diverse Women and Children
Maternal and child health (MCH) health inequities among racial/ethnic minority women and children in the U.S. are staggering. The maternal mortality rate for non-Latina Black women (44.0) was 2.5 times that of non-Latina White women (17.9) in 2019 (Hoyert, 2021). Inequities are not limited to health. Women of color are disproportionately more likely than non-Latina White women to live in poverty, and to earn less and work in lower-paying “service” occupations (Hegewisch & Williams-Baron, 2017) that substantially limit opportunities to develop financially secure families. Black and Latina women and their children also experience harsher economic and social penalties such as eviction (Desmond, 2016), and criminalization for parenting practices (Clifford & Silver-Greennerg, 2017). These inequities underscore a dire need for intersectionality-informed and social-justice-oriented MCH policies and programs for U.S. women and families at greatest risk of health inequities, financial insecurity, and structural discrimination, which are deeply intertwined. Intersectionality scholars have long advocated for intersectionality-informed policies and programs to address the social-structural realities of groups, such as women who experience discrimination and marginalization at multiple intersectional positions (e.g., race/ethnicity, class, and sexual minority status) (Bowleg, 2012; Collins, 2015; Crenshaw, 1989, 1991; Hancock, 2007). In response to these inequities and advocacy about the need to emphasize intersectionality’s potential for praxis, we developed the “Intersectionality Policymaking Toolkit: Key Principles for an Intersectionality Informed Policymaking Process to Serve Diverse Women, Children and Families,” (IPT) to assist in developing more equitable maternal and child health (MCH) policies and programs. IPT is a tool that U.S. policymakers, practitioners, community-based organizations and activists, and other interested stakeholders can use to develop and enhance equitable policies and programs for diverse women and families in the U.S. The IPT trains users about the key principles of intersectionality as applied in the context of MCH, and provides conceptual and practical guidance in the application of the intersectional lens at each stage of the MCH policymaking process. In this article, we discuss the development and concept-testing of the Intersectionality Policymaking Toolkit, which comprises a user-friendly handbook and implementation guide. During this three phase project we used community engaged participatory methods to develop, refine, and concept test the toolkit. In Phase I, we convened experts (N = 8) in intersectionality, policymaking and MCH to draft the toolkit. In Phase II, we conducted three interactive workshops with policymakers and/or their aides, practitioners, community-based organization staff and leadership and other key stakeholders in Washington, DC, New Orleans, LA and Santa Fe, NM to iteratively refine the toolkit (N = 37). In Phase III, we concept tested the Toolkit to assess acceptability and feasibility using surveys (N = 37), followed by three focus groups (N = 3-5) of a subset of workshop participants. After final revisions, the policymaking toolkit comprises a user-friendly handbook and implementation guide, with preliminary evidence of acceptability and feasibility for use in MCH policymaking. We anticipate that policymakers and practitioners who use the toolkit will be equipped to develop and improve policies and programs that address the racial inequities in MCH.