This paper draws on black and postcolonial feminist theory in problematizing the interplay of difference and power within the identity practices of Malaysian women. I examine strategic essentialism and cultural difference in ways of being Malay-Muslim, Chinese and Indian women. I highlight the ways in which ethnic and gender politics privileges and marginalizes ways of being and knowing within contemporary postcolonial Malaysia. This paper raises important issues of doing research on multiple identities in challenging and changing globalized ethnic and gendered spaces of education and work. (Contains 4 notes.)