Equity and Inclusion

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  1. Gender is the attitudes, feelings, and behaviors that a given culture associates with a person’s biological sex. (APA) Gender is often assigned based on sexual and reproductive anatomy. 
  2. Gender identity refers to one’s sense of oneself as male, female, or something else. When one’s gender identity and biological sex are not congruent, the individual may identify along the transgender spectrum. (APA)
  3. Transgender is an umbrella term that incorporates differences in gender identity wherein one's assigned biological sex doesn't match their felt gender identity. (APA) According to the American Psychological Association, “80% of transgender adults report knowing they were ‘different’ as early as elementary school.”
  4. Bias refers to behavior or language that demonstrates prejudice (preconceived opinion not based on reason or actual experience) in favor of or against one person or group compared to another.
  5. Bigotry refers to obstinate or unreasonable conduct or commentary that denigrates or offends another person, motivated (in whole or in part) by a biased belief or opinion held against another with regard to citizenship status, disability, ethnic origin, gender, nationality, race, religion, sexual orientation, or socioeconomic status.
  6. “BIPOC” is an acronym to describe “Black, Indigenous, People of Color” as a collective.
  7. “Colorblind” is the belief that everyone should be treated “equally” without respect to societal, economic, historical, racial or other differences. No differences are seen or acknowledged; everyone's the same.
  8. Culture describes a shared set of practices and beliefs,(i.e. the things we do/don’t, the ways we do/don’t do them, and the reasons why.)
  9. Discrimination refers to an action by an institution or individual that denies access or opportunity to people based on their social identity (such as gender, religion, or racial identity). Outcomes of such actions, rather than intent, are the basis for use of the term.
  10. Diversity describes the representation of different types of people (e.g. different races, ethnicities, cultural backgrounds, ages, abilities, religious beliefs, worldviews, socioeconomic status etc.) in a group or organization.
  11. Dominant group/culture refers to those within a society that have the greatest power, privileges, and social status. It may or may not be the majority of the population. In the United States, the dominant group has historically been white, Christian, affluent, and male. A dominant group achieves its position by controlling economic and political institutions, communications/media, education and health institutions, the arts, and business. The dominant culture is the way of life defined by the dominant group as “normal” and right.
  12. Ethnicity refers to the identification of group members based on a common heritage, often derived from where their ancestors lived.
  13. Melanin refers to the pigment that gives people different skin, eye, and hair colors.
  14. People of Color (PoC) is a term used to collectively identify those groups that have historically been and currently are targets of racism in the United States - for example, African & Caribbean Americans, Asian-Pacific Americans, Latino Americans, Indigenous & Native Americans, and Middle Eastern & Arab Americans. This term is not intended to deny the significant differences within this group.
  15. Prejudice is a preconceived judgment, attitude, opinion, or feeling formed without adequate information, prior knowledge, thought, or reason. Prejudice can be pre-judgment for or against any person or group.
  16. Race is a term to describe the social construct aimed at grouping people on the basis of physical features such as skin color, hair texture etc. The scientific consensus is there is no biological basis for such classification. Historically, race has been leveraged to establish a human hierarchy of inferiority and superiority and serves as the rationale for legal discrimination, colonization, enslavement, and systemic oppression. 
  17. Racial identity describes how one self-identifies or is classified by other people and by social institutions. In addition, it includes how one comes to understand and feel about one’s racial group membership. Racial identity development is a lifelong process in which individuals come to interpret and internalize varying messages about their own racial group and establish their sense of self based on personal, cultural, interpersonal, and institutional interactions.
  18. Racial literacy refers to a historical and sociological understanding of how race has been constructed and used to shape the world in which we live; the development of skills that enable us to function in an increasingly diverse society and constructively converse about race.
  19. Racism describes the inability or refusal to recognize the rights, needs, dignity, or value of people of particular races or geographical origins. More widely, the devaluation of various traits of character or intelligence as ‘typical’ of particular peoples (Oxford Reference); attitudes, actions, or practices of an institution, backed by societal power that creates a “system of advantage and disadvantage based on race.” (David Wellman) 
  20. Structural Inequality is the systemic disadvantage(s) of one social group compared to other groups, rooted and perpetuated through discriminatory practices (conscious or unconscious) that are reinforced through institutions, ideologies, representations, policies/laws, and practices. When this kind of inequality is related to racial/ethnic discrimination is referred to as systemic or structural racism.