‘Because I’m a Fighter’: Examining Salvadoran Women’s Leadership Toolkit

Abstract

To center the experiences of twenty Salvadoran women from the Washington, D.C. metro area, I use intersectionality as a conceptual framework. Starting from the vantage point of intersecting identities, these women build on gender and immigrant experiences to remain “fearless fighters” and “leave footprints” with their activism. However, sexism and racism press on their feelings of empowerment and force them to employ resistance strategies to sustain a commitment to immigrant rights. This article adopts an intersectional lens–to make sense of the opportunities and oppression that simultaneously render Salvadoran identities salient–while speaking to social movement scholarship addressing immigrant women’s activism.