Sample Answer

The intersectionality of multiple identities profoundly impacts immigrants, migrants, and asylum seekers, shaping their experiences with vulnerability, discrimination, and access to resources in host countries. Intersectionality, a framework developed by Kimberlé Crenshaw, recognizes that individuals hold multiple social identities (e.g., race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, religion, socioeconomic status) that can combine to create unique forms of discrimination and disadvantage that are greater than the sum of their individual parts.

Impact of Intersectionality on Non-Citizen Groups: Examples

1. Black Migrant Women Seeking Asylum:
   • Intersectionality: Being a Black woman, a migrant, and an asylum seeker.
   • Detrimental Effects/Trauma: This group often faces compounded discrimination at borders and within host countries. As migrants, they may experience xenophobia. As Black individuals, they can face racism, including racial profiling by law enforcement or systemic biases in the asylum process. As women, they may be vulnerable to gender-based violence, sexual exploitation, or discrimination in employment and housing. For example, a study by the Women’s Refugee Commission (2020) highlighted that Black asylum seekers, particularly women, face disproportionately harsh treatment in detention and often have lower asylum grant rates compared to other racial groups, facing both racial and gender discrimination compounding their status as non-citizens. They may also face cultural misunderstandings or a lack of culturally competent support services that exacerbate their trauma from persecution in their home country. This multi-layered discrimination can lead to increased psychological distress, re-traumatization, and barriers to legal and social support.
2. LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers from Conservative Countries:
   • Intersectionality: Being LGBTQ+, an asylum seeker, and potentially belonging to a racial or ethnic minority group within the host country.

   • Detrimental Effects/Trauma: These individuals often flee extreme persecution based on their sexual orientation or gender identity in their home countries, only to face new forms of discrimination in the host country. They may encounter homophobia or transphobia from within their own ethnic/religious communities in diaspora, from immigration officials, or in broader society. For instance, a report by Human Rights