Kira Sanbonmatsu focuses on gender in state elections. She examines the presence and performance of women who ran for the state legislatures and statewide executive offices in 2022 and 2024, analyzes the reasons for the underrepresentation of women in these offices, and highlights changes in women’s candidacies in recent years. The chapter also investigates the factors driving variation across states in women’s officeholding and assesses the status of women of color and LGBTQ+ women as candidates in state elections. Sanbonmatsu also includes analysis of the role certain issues, particularly abortion rights, play in state elections. Understanding why women have not fared better in the states is critical to understanding women’s status in electoral politics and their prospects for achieving parity in higher office in the future.

Erin C. Cassese and Yueshan Long document gender differences in public opinion and vote choice. They provide evidence of the emergence and trajectory of the gender gap in vote choice over time and in the most recent elections but demonstrate how the influence of gender is variable and contingent on other voter characteristics such as race, class, geography, and party. Cassese and Long outline common theoretical explanations for the gender gap and situate the American gap in global perspective. Shifting their attention from cause to effect, Cassese and Long explore how beliefs about women and men voters – including social constructions of key voting groups – shape campaign strategy and political communications. They evaluate the specific appeals to women and men voters in the 2024 presidential election, with particular attention to the influence of the overturning of Roe v. Wade in voter mobilization.

Jamil Scott places 2024 election outcomes in the context of the history of Black women in US electoral politics. She begins by evaluating the trends in Black women’s representation across levels of office, including changes as a result of the most recent election. Scott then describes Black women’s relationship with the Democratic Party, explaining how Black women’s support to the party has not been reciprocated in party support of Black women’s leadership or in prioritization of their policy concerns. She analyzes gender differences in voting behavior among Black voters, as well as generational differences among Black women voters, with particular attention to the 2024 election. Scott concludes her chapter by offering both historical and contemporary evidence of Black women’s crucial role in the fight for democracy. She argues that Black women will continue this fight but questions whether they will look to gender-based coalitions as a fruitful site for engagement.

Gabriele Magni examines the experiences of LGBTQ+ women running for office at various levels. Tracing the historical evolution of these candidacies from the 1970s all the way to 2024, the analysis shows how the number of LGBTQ+ women running for office has increased over time and how the group has grown more diverse along gender identity, race, and ethnicity. The chapter then explores the challenges that LGBTQ+ women face when running for office, highlighting both similarities and differences with straight, cisgender women as well as male candidates. Subgroup analysis then reveals how transgender women and LGBTQ+ women of color face heightened obstacles. The analysis also shows that, despite the challenges, cisgender lesbian women often perform at least as well as their straight, cisgender counterparts in elections. The chapter concludes with an assessment of the factors that can help increase and improve the political representation of LGBTQ+ women.

Celeste Montoya examines the role that gendered mobilization has played in US electoral politics, both historically and in the recent elections. She provides a conceptualization of gendered mobilization that emphasizes the importance of looking at the role that gender (often at the intersection of race and class) plays in a wide array of US social movements. She provides a historical overview that demonstrates the various ways in which gendered mobilizations have influenced the development of US democracy and the evolution of its electoral politics. Montoya focuses specifically on the mobilizations surrounding the 2024 election, outlining the mobilization of the MAGA movement around restricting transgender rights and opposing critical race theory, gender studies, and DEI. She identifies race-gendered mobilization among progressives in 2024 as well, emphasizing the role of intersectional coalitions in advocating for racial justice and reproductive rights among other issues. Gendered mobilization has been a significant part of efforts to expand political participation and representation, as well as those to restrict it. It has shaped party platforms and electoral coalitions. The patterns of the past help explain the current political moment and what may be at stake.

Throughout human history, individuals with impairments have encountered significant challenges, often living in hardship with limited opportunities for social, economic and cultural participation. Societies have responded to impairment with superstition and prejudice, which have contributed to marginalisation and exclusion. Disability identity is a complex concept; for some, it is a personal journey, while for others, it represents a political statement. Māori do not typically identify with the Western biomedical notion of disability. Instead, they prefer to frame their experiences through a cultural lens, using terms such as whānau hauā or Mana whaikaha. However, it is important to acknowledge that the term Mana whaikaha was introduced without broad consultation within the Māori disabled community. Other iwi and hapū may have their own terms; Māori should be free to self-identify in ways that align with their lived realities, without imposed terminology.

Anna Sampaio provides an intersectional analysis of Latina candidates for national office and Latiné/x voting behavior in the 2024 election. She pays particular attention to how disparities in polling inform our understanding of Latiné/x voters’ impact on the presidential election outcome while acknowledging that a widening gender gap among this community of voters was evident across multiple polls. Sampaio describes how gender and racialized messaging were weaponized in campaign communications to aggravate gender differences among Latiné/x voters. In her analysis of Latina candidates and officeholders, Sampaio places recent gains in historical context while pointing out the stalled progress for Latinas in election 2024. The chapter concludes with a discussion of obstacles and opportunities in the future of Latina politics in the United States.

This chapter addresses systemic challenges and opportunities within the mental health professions related to the inclusion, support, and empowerment of multiply marginalized practitioners, particularly practitioners of color with dis/abilities. In the context of increasing global mental health needs and an insufficiently diverse workforce, the chapter uses Critical Race Theory (CRT), Disability Justice, and Disability Critical Race Theory (DisCrit) to explore how systemic oppression, ableism, and racism are embedded in professional structures, such as training, education, and workplace contexts. Despite these barriers, marginalized practitioners bring vital lived experience and culturally grounded insight that improve client outcomes and enrich the field. The chapter concludes with best practices and guidance for transforming professional cultures to promote equity, belonging, and sustainability in mental health work. It emphasizes the urgency of moving beyond token inclusion toward systemic change that values and supports marginalized identities as assets rather than liabilities.

Despite decades of theoretical conceptualization of racism’s complexity as a multilevel and multidimensional construct, the measurement of racism has largely ignored these important nuances. Prior empirical research has largely focused on interpersonal racism, its antecedents, and its consequences. The present chapter summarizes the variety of methodological tools that have been used to evaluate youths’ experiences with interpersonal racism. We highlight opportunities to advance the scientific rigor of each method and technique, with particular considerations for measurement inclusive of the Intersectionality framework. We also argue for measuring racism beyond the individual level. Cultural, institutional, and structural racism are delineated, and tangible recommendations are provided for advancing the measurement of each type of racism among marginalized youth populations. The chapter concludes with promising avenues of future research to support the triangulation of measurement and enhance the scientific understanding of the impact of racism.

Intersectionality is an analytical tool that both stands on its own, and is considered a key tenet of critical race theory. This chapter details how intersectionality can serve three roles in social work: it can serve as an important analytic tool for self-reflexivity, a prism through which policy and research can better understand oppression, and a technique through which social workers can develop critical race praxis. Emphasis is placed on the depth of intersectionality, for instance, it is not solely about identity but is about oppression based on complex social identities and positionality. Case examples and illustrations from social work situations are provided.

This chapter explores the complexities of Black/White biracial (BWB) identity through a Critical Race Theory (CRT) framework, highlighting the intersections of white supremacy, anti-Blackness, and colorism in shaping identity formation and belonging. Drawing on personal narrative and existing research, it challenges traditional monoracial frameworks by framing biracial identity as fluid, liminal, and intersectional rather than bifurcated. Key dynamics include racial invalidation, colorism, multiracial microaggressions, and racial homelessness, all of which undermine mental health, belonging, and self-esteem. The chapter emphasizes how BWB individuals must navigate polarized family and community expectations, societal stereotypes, and shifting notions of authenticity, often experiencing both privilege and oppression simultaneously. Implications for social work practice include the need for culturally responsive and critically conscious approaches that affirm biracial identities, organizational policies that dismantle monoracial assumptions, and educational curricula that embed multiracial perspectives into clinical and social work training. By integrating biracial voices and perspectives, the profession advances a critical race praxis that challenges systemic inequities while fostering healing, resilience, and equity for biracial populations.

This chapter explores intersectional organizing in the US immigrant justice movement and how social workers can apply this framework in their community work. In the past two decades, the intersectional identities of many immigrant organizers have driven strategies and campaign goals. Immigrant youth have shed the DREAMer identity, leaving behind the symbolic caps and gowns, while taking up the fight for a bolder vision of equity, inclusion, and liberation. Those who are most impacted are centered in the organizing campaigns. Many organizations and coalitions are rooted in the intersection of the criminal legal and immigration systems, also known as crimmigration. And deportation defense campaigns include those less desirable – the day laborers, the car wash workers, the street vendors, the criminal legal system impacted immigrants – not only the "good" model immigrants. The analysis developed in this chapter builds on the community and policy organizing led by undocumented organizers and allies on the streets.

Discrimination is a commonplace experience for ethnically and racially minoritized youth. In this chapter, we examine the links between ethnic and racial discrimination and adolescents’ mental health, physical health, health behaviors, academics, and civic engagement. In line with developmental theories that highlight not only the role of discrimination in young people’s development but also the factors that can attenuate the impacts of discriminatory experiences, we discuss the protective role of both interpersonal and internal resources for youth experiencing ethnic and racial discrimination. The chapter concludes with a discussion of intersectionality in adolescence and recommendations for future research, including the need to develop new measures of ethnic and racial discrimination, attend to the consequences of structural racism and the cumulative experiences of ethnic and racial discrimination, untangle the mediating and moderating mechanisms that link discrimination and adolescent well-being, and further explore the assets of ethnically and racially minoritized youth that promote well-being in the face of discrimination.

CRT is a plausibility structure that explains why and how racism persists, and society’s disregard for health, educational, and welfare discrepancies between white and minoritized peoples. It explains why a profession like social work has not seriously addressed racial injustice, instead content to treat gross disparities applying whitesplanations and colonized theories to those suffering from socially unjust systems. This chapter provides a history of CRT and five theoretical tenets applicable to social work, each of which will be developed further in the text, and argues that CRT is an appropriate transformational framework for social work.

This chapter describes the foundations for and the possibilities of implementing a Queer AZN CRT framework in social work practice. Queer AZN CRT is rooted in critical, feminist, queer, Indigenist and Pasifika theories, and explores the impacts of colonization, imperialism, and indigeneity within intersectional Asian experiences. Six proposed tenets for Queer AZN CRT are listed along with core considerations for social work practice: (1) Queer, brown Asianization; (2) challenging mainstream ideologies about Asians, Pacific Islanders, and QTPI/QTAAm; (3) global, decolonial perspectives; (4) reconstructive histories; (5) multidisciplinary story, practice, praxis, and voice; and (6) social justice perspective. Two narratives depict the application of Queer AZN CRT in social work practice, first in a clinical social work scenario, and then within a macro practice framework. Additional reflections regarding the implications for Queer AZN CRT in social work practice and education are discussed.

The topic of chapter 6 is unequal representation with particular emphasis on intersecting identities, voice and agency. The chapter digs deeper into the issue of policy priorities with a view to uncover who — and to some extent also what issues — female parliamentarians in the region represent as well as the reasoning behind their choices, not based on voting patterns as has traditionally been the case in such analyses, but anchored in personal narratives. The chapter accordingly explores the quality of representation (symbolic, descriptive and substantive) and helps us gain an understanding of which women and policy areas are represented, and which are underrepresented in politics at the national level, something which has very significant implications for not only climate change mitigation, but also adaptation and impacts. As the analysis progresses, it becomes clear that the female parliamentarians in the MENA tend to represent ‘people like me’, a reality which poses a serious problem for the quality of women’s representation, because the majority of women are simply not represented in earnest.

Here I reflect on the vagaries of hair, both through aging and during chemotherapy, then reflect on my privileged position compared to others.