Abstract

Starting from a critical analysis of the category of intersectionality, the article aims at present strengths and weaknesses of this approach. By focusing on the necessity to include in the definition of discrimination a multiplicity of elements beyond gender - such as race, class, religion and disability - the article focuses on the challenges addressed from this approach regarding the traditional antidiscrimination theory. Furthermore, the article follows the critical assessment of intersectionality over the western feminism, by exploring the category of sisterhood and the related idea of universalism. The final part of the article underlines the necessity to combine intersectionality and a normative perspective able not only to understand the hidden dimension of power, but also to transform the social world in which discrimination and oppression are experimented.