Exploring the relevance of intersectionality in Australian dietetics: Issues of diversity and representation

Abstract

Through an exploration of the origins of dietetics in the West, and specifically in Australia, we problematise the lack of diversity within the profession through the lens of intersectionality. Dietetics in Australia continues to be dominated by Australian-born women, and ideologies about dietitians perpetuate narratives of white, young, slim, women. Intersectional approaches to critiquing diversity in dietetics provides a useful framework to extend critical studies of health disparities into disparities in the dietetics professional workforce, which is advanced through structural, political and representational intersectionality guided critique. Through the analysis, a dialog is prompted in order to chart paths forward to find ‘how differences will find expression’ within the professional group. To do this, dietetics as a profession must reckon with its historical roots and step forward, out of a perceived position of objective neutrality regarding people and diversity, and into a position that can recognise that professional institutions have the power to exclude and marginalise, along with the power to include and transform.