Good communication is made easier when we have shared language to use.
Use this glossary to help define and acknowledge language related to equity. This starter list of terms were identified by the inaugural USDS DEIA Council. This list will grow over time (and you are encouraged to add to it!).
Remember! Language is critically important, highly imperfect, and ever-evolving.
Accessibility: The design, development, procurement and maintenance of inclusive technology, information, programs, services, and facilities so that all stakeholders and those we serve, especially individuals and communities who are traditionally underserved and marginalized - including those who are disabled - can fully and independently use them.
Belonging: The extent to which people feel part of a larger whole in a group setting. One of the ways that we measure inclusion.
Brave Spaces: a supportive environment that enables a participant to feel comfortable taking a certain amount of risk in order to express themselves or share their thoughts/experiences
Regardless of the policies or norms that a space espouses, whether a space is “safe” or “brave” or neither is in the eyes of each individual who participates. A safe space for one person might be a brave space for another, and a safe space for someone when discussing a particular topic might not be a safe space for that person when they discuss a different topic that feels more risk-laden.
Diversity: The achievement of a workforce composition that all stakeholders, especially individuals and communities who are traditionally underserved and marginalized, trust to represent the public we serve.
Equity: According to Executive Order (EO) 14091: Further Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Govt (Signed 02/16/2023):
Equity is the consistent and systematic treatment of all individuals in a fair, just, and impartial manner, including individuals who belong to communities that often have been denied such treatment, such as Black, Latino, Indigenous and Native American, Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander persons and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; women and girls; LGBTQI+ persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; persons who live in United States Territories; persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality; and individuals who belong to multiple such communities.
What is USDS's measurable, working equity definition? While the definition above is helpful as a starting point, synthesizing commonly used definitions of equity from the World Health Organization and the field of health equity gives us a measurable definition of equity that may be helpful for USDS's purposes:
Equity is the absence of unfair and avoidable differences in lived outcomes (and their determinants)
Lived Experience: Personal knowledge about the world gained through direct, first-hand involvement in everyday events rather than through representations constructed by other people.
Inclusion: The achievement of an environment that all stakeholders, especially individuals and communities who are traditionally underserved and marginalized, trust to be safe, supportive, welcoming, and respectful.
Intersectionality: Acknowledges that people have overlapping identities and lived experiences complicating their relationship to prejudice and oppression.
Mattering: Consists of engaging employees in workplace decisions, building a culture of gratitude and recognition, and connecting individual work with organizational mission. One of the ways we measure inclusion.
Marginalized: More commonly used in academia, social work/justice/movements. Refers to those deprived of institutional power to create change or those who are most likely to experience various forms of exclusion. Occurs when someone’s identity is undervalued or discriminated against. Does not necessarily mean underrepresentation.
Oppression: Systemic, pervasive inequality throughout society. It benefits people with more privileges and harms those with fewer privileges.
Privilege: A collection of unearned cultural, legal, social, and institutional rights and advantages extended to certain social groups. Privilege is about acknowledging the advantages that you have and others do not. Every person possesses some form of privilege.
Psychological Safety: The individual, team, or organizational belief that an environment allows for risk taking, vulnerability, and failure. One of the ways that we measure inclusion.
Safe Spaces: A supportive, non-threatening environment that enables a participant to feel there is no risk to expressing themselves and sharing their thoughts/experiences
Tokenism: Seeking representation of non-dominant groups without a genuine desire for their participation, input, and individual lived experiences. People who are being tokenized are often recruited to serve an optics-based agenda to deflect criticism rather than engage in meaningful organizational change. Tokenization often results in communities being perceived as a monolith and marginalized people being asked to represent their entire community.
Underrepresented: More commonly used to speak about a low number of a specific identity relative to general population.
Underserved: More commonly used in government (at least more recently), to recognize the role racism, discrimination and other forms of oppression play in denying certain individuals and communities full access to services, opportunities, and participation in systems. Executive Order 13895 lists the following groups as underserved: Black, Latino, and Indigenous and Native American persons, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and other persons of color; members of religious minorities; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) persons; persons with disabilities; persons who live in rural areas; and persons otherwise adversely affected by persistent poverty or inequality. ”
More terms can be found at https://www.feminuity.org/resources/40-dimensions-diversity-intersections-intersectionality-identity
Your input is not only welcome, it's needed. You can book time for a more private conversation, schedule a consultation with us, submit a new idea or just ask a question using this Polly. This gets sent as a DM to USDS's Equity Delivery team team but not to our working channel.