Reframing Gendered Issues: Intersectional Identity Frames and Policy Agendas

Policy agendas are a critical feature of the political work that advocacy organizations do, and how they are framed matters for garnering public support. These framing tactics are particularly relevant for women’s advocacy groups that appeal to diverse constituencies with different racial and class identities. In this paper, the identity framing of policy agendas is examined to understand its effects on women’s willingness to get more politically involved in issues. Drawing on original data from two survey experiments with a national sample of 926 highly educated white women, these effects are delineated by frames that vary the race and class of the policy beneficaries to highlight how these differences impact engagement with gendered issues. The findings of this study suggest that intersectional identity framing, i.e. messaging by advocacy organizations that connect the relevance of policy issues to people’s multiple identity characteristics, has substantial effects on their reported political engagement and disengagement. In framing the impact of policy agendas by gender, race and class, this study demonstrates how these characteristics work together to either motivate or disincentivize potential supporters to get more involved in these issues.