Data systems are the backbone of public services in many African countries, but using one-dimensional categories (like “woman” or “youth”) creates the Identity Trap, failing to account for the multiple, compounding factors that affect people’s lives.
To reflect this real-world complexity and mitigate new risks, developing data governance frameworks through an intersectionality lens is essential.
Youth
Identity trap:
Every young person is tech-savvy or able to benefit from digital programs
What’s missing:
Youth from low-income or rural backgrounds may lack devices, data, or digital literacy, making them invisible to digital-only support systems.
Lives in a rural setting
Identity trap:
People living in rural settings are all low-income and/or have reduced access to technology
What’s missing:
Ignoring high-achieving or entrepreneurial rural actors can lead to under-investment in local infrastructure that could support their growth.
Woman
Identity trap:
“Woman” is treated as the main barrier, without recognising other overlapping constraints
What’s missing:
A woman living with a disability or from a linguistic minority faces triple the barriers, which a standard “gender” program will not solve.
Person living with a Disability
Identity trap:
Disability is assumed to be easy to identify and evenly recorded across different contexts
What’s missing:
Non-visible disabilities or those from cultures where disability is stigmatized are often missing from datasets, leading to zero support.
Migrant
Identity trap:
Migration status is seen as the primary descriptor, ignoring other life factors
What’s missing:
“Migrant” status may qualify for temporary shelter, but if they are also elderly or living with a disability, they may not receive accessible housing or health services, since the system only considers their migration status.
Informal Worker
Identity trap:
All informal workers are low-skilled, equally precarious, and have the same barriers
What’s missing:
Skilled workers in the informal sector may need different financial tools than day laborers, but are lumped into one “high risk” category.
Low-income
Identity trap:
Everyone with a low income faces the same challenges
What’s missing:
A low-income household in an urban center has different needs (transport, rent) than one in a subsistence farming community.
Language Minority
Identity trap:
Services are offered in the “main” language(s) and language isn’t seen as a major barrier
What’s missing:
Language barriers often hide critical health or legal information, effectively locking out entire communities from public services.
Religious Minority
Identity trap:
Religious status does not influence service uptake and, therefore, is not considered
What’s missing:
Ignoring religious customs can lead to culturally inappropriate service delivery, resulting in low trust and program rejection.
What is Intersectionality?
Definition
in·ter·sec·tion·al·i·ty /ˌin.tə.sɛk.ʃəˈnæl.ə.ti/ (noun)
Intersectionality is an intellectual framework for understanding how various aspects of individual identity, including race, gender, social class, and sexuality, interact to create unique experiences of privilege or oppression
Rather than treating social categories separately, intersectionality looks at how they combine to create unique forms of exclusion or harm.
— Kimberlé Crenshaw
Origin
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Intersectionality is a framework focused on power, systems, and structures, explaining how institutions fail to include or protect individuals living at the crossroads of multiple forms of disadvantage. Building on Dr. Crenshaw’s analysis, it helps actors understand how factors like gender, location, and legal status combine to shape how people are affected by data policies and systems.
To analyse this interaction, Dr. Crenshaw identified three dimensions structural, political, and representational which highlight how exclusion occurs even when policies appear neutral.
Dimensions of Intersectionality
Structural Intersectionality
In her analysis, Dr. Crenshaw notes that \”structural intersectionality\” refers to how social structures and institutions are often ill-equipped to address the compounded realities of those who occupy multiple marginalised identities. For example, she describes how women of color seeking shelter from domestic violence often face barriers not encountered by white women, such as language obstacles, immigration status issues, and the lack of culturally responsive services. These structural deficiencies mean that \”the needs of women who are at the intersection of race and gender often go unmet.\”
Relation to Data Governance in Africa
Across the continent, digital ID systems are presented as gateways to modern life. They promise legal recognition, the ability to authenticate oneself, access to government services, and participation in the formal economy. Kenya and Nigeria, for example, have embraced universal registration and have goals to enrol every resident, including children, into national digital ID systems. In theory this supports more efficient service delivery and better planning. Yet this promise relies on a fragile assumption that people already possess, or can easily obtain, the documents required to enrol in the first place.
According to Research ICT Africa, a significant number of rural and low-income households do not have primary registration documents, particularly birth certificates and other foundational papers essential for digital ID enrolment. For those without documents, an alternative pathway sometimes exists, such as travelling to a central office to swear an affidavit. This option tends to work for undocumented individuals who are mobile and can afford the trip. For people with limited mobility, some systems offer a flexible arrangement where a documented relative is allowed to complete parts of the registration process on their behalf. This approach supports disabled citizens who already possess the paperwork needed to authenticate a family link.
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Consider an individual who is both without proper documentation and living with reduced mobility, or someone living with two intersecting identities that exacerbate their state of marginalisation. Neither alternative is ideal for them. They likely cannot travel to the capital to swear an affidavit due to prohibitive costs, and they cannot designate a relative because their entire household lacks formal papers. These two disadvantages reinforce one another.
Political Intersectionality
Political intersectionality addresses the ways in which political movements (like feminism or anti-racism) often fail to advocate for those at the intersection of multiple identities, forcing them to choose one aspect of their identity over another.
Representational Intersectionality
Representational intersectionality highlights how the media and cultural narratives often flatten the complex experiences of intersectional individuals, relying on stereotypes that fail to reflect the reality of their lives.
Intersectionality and the Inclusive Data Charter
While understanding intersectionality as a theoretical framework is important, the next step is translating it into actionable policy. To operationalise these concepts, the international development community has turned to frameworks that explicitly link data practices with equity. Foremost among these is The Inclusive Data Charter (IDC), a global initiative coordinated by the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development Data which calls for data systems and practices that will \”account for disparities and be designed for the protection and empowerment of the most vulnerable people in society.\” This principle is indispensable in an era where policy and public services are increasingly data-driven, and where the risk of leaving people behind is greatest for those with overlapping, marginalised identities.
Intersectionality provides a practical framework for realising the IDC’s vision. It equips decision makers, regulators, and civil society with the proper ideology to design data governance systems that move beyond one-size-fits-all approaches and transition to those that better reflect the complex realities of everyday people. Nevertheless, global charters like the IDC require adaptation to local contexts to achieve meaningful results. Universal standards frequently encounter specific barriers when applied to diverse geopolitical landscapes. Consequently, the next section shifts focus to African data governance, exploring how historical legacies and current technological realities demand a customised, intersectional strategy.
Ethnicity
Orientation
Image: First Book