Applying intersectionality to gender discrimination in International refugee law: the case of women asylum seekers

Abstract

This article proposes intersectionality as a legal hermeneutic tool to enhance International Refugee Law, providing a comprehensive framework for analysing asylum claims and addressing the needs of particularly vulnerable refugee groups. Gender-based discrimination is inherently intersectional, rarely occurring in isolation but intersecting with other identity markers – such as nationality, ethnicity, religion, age, and migratory status – to produce compounded and distinctive forms of oppression. Traditional single-axis approaches often fail to capture these overlapping harms, potentially leaving applicants without adequate protection. The article posits that intersectionality is particularly crucial in assessing both the credibility of asylum claims and the seriousness of gender-based persecution. Using women asylum seekers as a paradigmatic case, it analyses FGM-related caselaw before the European Court of Human Rights and illustrates how intersectional reasoning can strengthen both the theoretical and practical capacity of refugee law, advancing substantive equality.