Inequality Within Equalities: An Institutionalist Examination of Equalities Interest Groups Engagement in a Third Sector-Government Partnership

This study applies a feminist institutionalist lens to explore the impact on equalities groups of a statutory sub-state third sector-government partnership. The analytical framework synthesises equalities theories of intersectionality and hierarchy of (in)equalities with voluntary sector studies understandings of interorganisational relations in governance settings. This research used semi-structured, elite interviews with a purposive sample of 41 policy actors from Welsh Government and third sector organisations and the data were analysed using Critical Discourse Analysis. The analysis reveals different notions of competition coexisting and influencing inter-organisational relations. It shows ‘race’ equality organisations face structural disadvantage both in informal institutional discourses and through the informal institutional policy-influencing norms, exposing a form of political intersectionality, hitherto neglected by intersectionality scholars.