Layered Injustices: Mapping Everyday Discrimination in Nursing Education through an Intersectional Lens

BackgroundDespite stated commitments to equity, nursing education environments remain sites of pervasive everyday discrimination, especially for students with intersecting marginalized identities.PurposeThis study aimed to examine patterns of everyday discrimination among undergraduate nursing students using an intersectional lens, with particular attention to how experiences vary across overlapping axes of social identity and structural vulnerability.MethodA cross-sectional survey of 260 undergraduate nursing students was conducted at a large Canadian university. Everyday discrimination was measured using the Everyday Discrimination Scale (EDS), alongside sociodemographic variables related to race, gender, disability, financial insecurity, and English language status. Data were analyzed using ANOVA and factorial interaction models, with QuantCrit principles informing variable construction, modeling, and interpretation.ResultsEveryday discrimination was commonly reported and significantly higher among students identifying as racialized, especially those born in Africa, financially insecure, or with a disability. Interaction effects revealed that students at the intersection of multiple marginalized identities, particularly women with disabilities or racialized students with financial insecurity-reported the highest levels of discrimination.ConclusionFindings reveal that discrimination is structurally patterned and intensifies at the intersections of race, class, gender, migration, and disability. Through our intersectional and QuantCrit lens, this study advances how inequities are reproduced in Canadian nursing programs and raises urgent questions about ethics, responsibility, and institutional accountability, particularly in relation to the recruitment and support of racialized, international, economically disadvantaged students.