Seeing the full picture: Why social mobility needs intersectionality

Across the UK, conversations about opportunity have grown louder. We talk about who gets ahead, who gets left behind, and how to build a society where background does not determine one’s future. Yet despite years of effort, where someone starts in life continues to shape the opportunities available to them and their professional trajectory.

Socio-economic background (SEB) remains one of the clearest indicators of how far someone can go. In the financial services sector for example, Bridge Group research shows that SEB is the single strongest predictor of who reaches senior leadership, with employees from lower socio-economic backgrounds taking 16% longer—nearly two years—to progress from middle to senior roles than their more privileged peers (Progress Together & The Bridge Group, 2025). Similarly, KPMG’s Socio-Economic Background Pay Gap Report highlights that SEB continues to shape access to opportunity, success, and life chances more strongly in the UK than in any other developed country (KPMG and The Bridge Group, 2021).

However, there is a bigger picture. People’s lives are shaped by more than their socio-economic background. Gender, race, disability, geography, and migration history all interact in ways that don’t simply sit side by side; they overlap, collide, and compound. When we ignore those intersections, we see only part of the story. When compounded with factors such as gender, race, disability, or migration history, socio-economic background can deepen inequality and create overlapping barriers to progression.

The crossroads of opportunity

The idea of intersectionality helps us see what is missing. Coined by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality describes how different systems of power overlap to shape people’s lived experiences (Crenshaw, 1989). She invites us to imagine inequality as a crossroads, each road representing something like gender, race, or socio-economic background. The people standing at the junction are hit by traffic coming from every direction at once. The harm they experience is not caused by one car alone, but by the collision itself.

That image captures something we often forget in social mobility work: people do not live single-issue lives. A young woman navigating university may be affected not only by her family income, but by being the first in her family to study in Britain, by the expectations placed on her, or by the assumptions others make about her accent, her name, or her disability.

And the same is true for a white boy growing up in a post-industrial town or a rural community. His family’s finances may already limit his choices, but geography compounds those constraints. The lack of local jobs, transport, and role models narrows his horizon long before he finishes school. Add a learning disability to that mix, and he faces a system that was never built with him in mind. None of these factors on their own explain his struggle, but together they create a reality where ambition and ability are constantly constrained by structure.

When we focus on barriers one strand at a time, we run the risk of oversimplifying the reality and complexity of lived experience. Intersectionality reminds us that opportunity is rarely blocked by a single door; it is often a maze of smaller locks, each one shaped by the interaction of background, identity, and place.

What we lose when we simplify

Much of the research on opportunity in the UK tells us who progresses, but not always why. The patterns within the patterns are easily missed.

Take the numbers:

The Social Mobility Commission (2023) found that only 36% of young people living with disabilities are in employment compared to around 53% of their non-disabled peers, even when they share similar family backgrounds.
The Sutton Trust’s Double Disadvantage (2025) shows that among children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), those from higher socio-economic backgrounds are more likely to secure a formal Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). 65% of parents from lower socio-economic status spent no money on their application compared to 29% of those from higher socio-economic status, while 11% of higher-status parents spent over £5,000 compared to just 1% of lower-status parents.
The Runnymede Trust’s Broken Ladders (2022) revealed that 42% of women of colour reported being passed over for promotion, compared to 27% of white women — a gap that isn’t visible in gender-only analysis.
And the Social Mobility Commission’s State of the Nation (2019) found that white boys from post-industrial and coastal towns face some of the lowest educational outcomes in England, showing how geography and socio-economic background combine to shape life chances.

Each of these findings points to the same truth: inequality rarely stems from a single cause. It arises from the overlap of economic, social, cultural, and geographic systems that determine who moves forward and who is left behind.

A framework for connection

Intersectionality is sometimes misunderstood as a concept that divides; a theory of differences. In truth, it offers the opposite: a way to understand how our struggles are connected.

At a time when public conversations about inequality can feel fragmented or polarised, intersectionality invites a different kind of dialogue, one that brings people together. It reminds us that the forces limiting opportunity are not confined to one group. They are part of a shared system that affects us all, though in different ways.

This is where social mobility work has a unique advantage. Because socio-economic background cuts across every community and profession, it gives us a shared language for understanding inequality. Intersectionality deepens that understanding. It allows us to see how social, cultural, and economic forces reinforce one another, and how improving opportunity for one group can create ripple effects for many others.

It also humanises the conversation. Intersectionality gives us permission to tell fuller stories, stories that do not tidy away complexity but lean into it. It asks us to see people as they are: multi-layered, contradictory, and real.

Why this matters for organisations

Beyond its moral power, intersectionality offers a sharper, more practical lens for leaders who want to create meaningful change.

It strengthens evidence. By examining how inequalities intersect, organisations can get a more accurate understanding of what is really happening in their workforce or community. That insight makes interventions more effective.
It sharpens decisions. When we see how barriers overlap, we can target resources where they are needed most. This prevents well-intentioned strategies from missing their mark.
It builds trust. Acknowledging complexity, even when data is small or imperfect, shows honesty. It tells people their experiences count, even when they do not fit neatly into categories.
It unlocks potential. When systems account for the full range of experiences, more people can contribute and thrive. That diversity of perspective drives innovation and resilience.

In this way, intersectionality is not an abstract idea. It is a tool for better governance, smarter policymaking, and more sustainable business. It aligns fairness with precision and purpose.

Reframing the story of progress

The conversation on inequality is at a crossroads. The field has matured, but it risks becoming narrow, focused on measuring movement rather than understanding the systems that make movement possible. Intersectionality can help widen that lens. It reconnects the agenda with the human realities that sit behind the data and reimagines progress as something collective rather than individual.

We often talk about “leveling the playing field.” But intersectionality asks a deeper question: what shape is the field itself, and who decided its boundaries?

If we continue to treat inequalities as separate, looking at gender here, ethnicity there, and social background somewhere else, we risk reinforcing the very hierarchies we aim to dismantle. Intersectionality offers a way out of that cycle. It invites us to see that addressing one dimension of inequality can strengthen progress across them all.

Seeing the full picture: Why social mobility needs intersectionality

Seeing the full picture: Why social mobility needs intersectionality

The crossroads of opportunity

What we lose when we simplify

A framework for connection

Why this matters for organisations

Reframing the story of progress

Further Reading

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