Women’s Movements, Identity Politics, and Policy Impacts: A Study of Policies on Violence against Women in the 50 United States

Scholars of social movements and democratic political theorists have argued that “identity politics” weakens social movements and undermines their influence on public policy. I offer a theoretical argument that at least some forms of “identity politics” likely have the reverse effects. In particular, when marginalized groups organize around ascriptive characteristics or “social location,” they generate knowledge about the social group, strengthen participants’ feelings of affiliation with the movement, produce more representative movement agendas, and create the building blocks for broader coalitions. In a study of the U.S., I find that separate organization by women of color strengthens women’s movements, and indirectly improves government responsiveness both to violence against women of color in particular and to violence against women in general.