How has intersectionality changed your perspective?

I was raised to embrace intersectionality. I cannot say it has changed my perspective, for the reason that it has always been my perspective. I am indigenous. I am a woman. I come from a middle class background. I have a college degree and a master's degree. I am married, and as of this writing, without child in a society that expects married women to bear children. Given these circumstances, I learned to look at things from various perspectives and within changing contexts. I believe my background allows/ gives me a wide berth of understanding when meeting people from different walks of life.

There are many other people like me. Their circumstances may be more difficult or less difficult (this is relative, of course), but intersectionality teaches us that the best way to look at people is from their respective contexts/ backgrounds.

I began to realise how important intersectionality was when I joined an NGO working on the rights of migrant workers in Thailand as an intern after my graduation. I felt that being migrant workers abroad was difficult that they had to deal with unequal treatments, stereotypes, suspicion, etc. Their life was even more marginalised that Thailand does not recognise the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. This meant that their life was risky and somehow not protected by law. With this experience, I began to understand how diverse our society was and perceive the world through an intersectional lens.