In reading the book Kindred by Octavia Butler, it's easy to notice lots of inequalities among the characters. The book is teeming with racism, sexism, and class disparities, seeing as how much of the "timeline" of the book is spent in the height of slavery in the United States, on a plantation. But many of the inequalities are between people who are of the same standing in one aspect or another: between blacks, or whites, or men or women. People who might be on equal footing in one aspect, but are unequal in another. This intersectionality plays a large part in the events that unfold in Dana's experiences. I feel that while Dana would seem to have the least status in this setting, which would therefore hold her back, this often seems to be the very thing that gives her the advantages she needs to survive.
I feel that in many instances, the very thing that you would expect to make things difficult to impossible for Dana are the things that help her, that give her an "in" with other characters. It seems that if Dana had been a black man or a white woman, she may have been put into situations that would have kept her from ever getting to know Rufus, and therefore helping herself. From the very beginning, her being a woman seems to keep her from greater troubles that a man might have had. When Dana saves Rufus in the river, his mother thinks she is, as Rufus says: "just some nigger she had never seen before" but is startled for a moment when Dana talks, possibly because the person she thought was a man was actually a woman. Later, when Dana goes to Rufus after he breaks his leg, both his father and mother stare at her when they see her, as if trying to remember her. Likely, no notice would have been taken if she had been in a dress like the slave women, but the sight of a woman who was dressed like a man seemed to trigger something, possibly a memory. Dana doesn't think that Mrs. Weylin would have been able to recognize her after a few years, especially since she seemed to only have a brief glimpse, but Mrs Weylin says "I've seen you before." as if she does remember someone so out of character with the time.
Additionally, Dana's being a female in this time period gives her a greater chance of bonding with Rufus, so that she can help both him and herself. It's very likely that if Dana had been male, he would have been instructed to go back outside with Nigel and Luke after carrying Rufus into the house (if black) or expected to leave with Mr. Weylin to go downstairs and leave the nursing to the women, (if white) but as a black woman, she was able to stay with him, as caretaker was an accepted role for black women. Had Dana been a white woman, there would have been little reason for continued interaction between her and Rufus either, as the slaves and his mother would have been in charge of caring for him. Dana's being a black woman also meant that she could more easily slip into life working in and around the house, since most of the house servants were women, while most of the men were sent to the fields.
I think the greatest benefit of being a black woman was her effect on Rufus. He quickly trusted Dana and came to care about her, and some of this, I believe, was because she was a bit of an oddity to him. In his world, all women were lesser people, but Dana's dressing like a man, speaking like an educated person, and stating that she is equal to her white husband all fascinate Rufus and increase his desire to keep her around.
I find it interesting that Butler created a character who would seemingly have little advantage in both the world she was born into-as Dana would lack both white privilege or male privilege-and then thrusts her into a world where the privileges she does have are far greater than her peers in that time have. Yet despite her lowered status, she is often able to use exactly these drawbacks to her advantage, even if only for a short time. If Dana's character had been white (woman OR man) or a black man, there would likely have been fewer opportunities to bond with Rufus and survive in the way she had. Yet, had Dana been born in that time as a black woman, she would have likely endured one of the lowest "positions" of anyone in American history.
