Operationalising Intersectionality in Policy Practice: the Working Group as a site of feminist and epistemic innovation

Despite the growing consensus on the relevance of intersectionality for understanding structural inequalities, translating this framework into policy practice remains a complex and ongoing endeavour. Feminist scholarship has long highlighted the epistemic and institutional gaps between intersectionality as a critical framework and the technocratic logic that often governs public administration. This paper contributes to these debates by examining the working group as a methodological and epistemic device for embedding intersectionality in local policy-making processes. Drawing on feminist institutionalism and epistemologies of situated knowledge, the paper conceptualises the working group not merely as an administrative instrument but as a potential site of feminist governance and collective inquiry. It argues that such spaces can foster what can be described as intersectional awareness: the institutional and epistemic capacity to recognise how interlocking systems of power operate across policy domains and within institutions. This notion builds on Christoffersen’s (2017) discussion of developing intersectional understanding within public policy, alongside broader feminist calls for reflexivity and power awareness in institutional practice (Hankivsky, 2014; Collins, 2019). The reflection draws on experience from several projects addressing equality and diversity policies in Catalonia, all aimed at advancing intersectionality within local governance. Across these initiatives, working groups have operated as structured spaces where municipal staff, practitioners, NGOs and researchers analyse existing policies, identify blind spots across intersecting axes, and co-produce tools to integrate intersectional perspectives into policy processes. Empirically, the paper focuses on one of these initiatives: Transformative Policies for Critical Intersections (2025–27). In this case study, the analysis examines how a specific working group was implemented and enacted, drawing on documentary analysis, participant observation and semi-structured interviews to understand how this format generates epistemic shifts and transforms professional knowledge and institutional routines. By framing the working group as a space of epistemic co-production, the paper argues that this methodology can help operationalise intersectionality in public policies, bridging the gap between critical theory and institutional practice. It shows how collective, iterative formats can support more reflexive and politically grounded forms of governance, offering a promising pathway for translating intersectionality into meaningful policy innovation.