Exploring intersections and alliances across the often competing categories of race, class, gender, and sexuality, Writing Women's Communities contributes to current public debates about multiculturalism, feminism, identity politics, the academy as a site of political activism, and the relationship between literature and politics. Franklin points out that the anthology form breaks down distinctions between the "literary" and the "extra-literary" by including many genres.

Noting the increasing movement of women of color into the academy in the 1980s and 1990s, she shows that the anthology provides a forum that enables the editors - often women working within universities - to reach and remain part of multiple communities.