Appendix: How to assess your policies and programs with legal teams

• What to know: Women thriving in workplaces is a business imperative, and businesses are searching for ways to remove barriers that prevent women — and others — from advancing.

• Additional terms to consider: Closing gaps for women in leadership; advancing women by leveling the playing field; removing barriers from the system; ensuring fair and open access to opportunity.

• What to know: This fundamental element of positive workplaces is multifaceted — inclusion involves employees experiencing that they are: valued members of an organization; trusted to contribute to business results; able to be their authentic selves; and psychologically safe to hold differing views, take risks, and make mistakes without worrying about negative repercussions.

• Additional terms to consider: Anti-exclusionary.

What to know: This important initiative at Catalyst and among our Supporters involves everyone working together to close gaps to create a level playing field, address harmful stereotypes, and create a more inclusive workplace and society.

• Additional terms to consider: Mutual accountability; bringing everyone to the table; an invitation to everyone, regardless of gender, to be part of the work of building fair and inclusive workplaces.

• What to know: Equity is working toward fair outcomes by treating people in ways that address their unique advantages or barriers.

• Additional terms to consider: Fairness; a level playing field; closing gaps in X, Y, Z; ensuring fair and open access to opportunity.

• What to know: This phrase is useful when discussing groups of people who have less power than others.

• Additional terms to consider: People from marginalized racial and ethnic groups or people from the LGBTQ+ community, etc., are helpful when speaking about specific characteristics. People from underrepresented groups is appropriate when referring to demographics and representation rather than power dynamics.

• What to know: Belonging is about people feeling as though they are part of a group or that they can bring their whole selves to work. Note that although belonging is a feeling that results from the experience of being included at work, it is not a synonym for inclusion.

• Additional terms to consider: Connection; part of the group; feeling connected.

• What to know: This concept is related to whether an organization is reflective of the many different sorts of people who make up society.

• Additional terms to consider: Seeing someone who looks like themselves in leadership; seeing themselves reflected in management.

• What to know: Intersectionality is a framework for understanding how social identities — such as gender, race, ethnicity, social class, religion, sexual orientation, and ability — overlap with one another and with systems of power that advantage and disadvantage people in the workplace and broader community. Do not use intersectional or intersectionality in reference to a characteristic of an individual.

• Additional terms to consider: Combination of background and identities; multifaceted identities.

• What to know: Diversity is a characteristic of a group. A diverse group of people is one that contains people with different backgrounds, experiences, and/or perspectives. Do not inadvertently conflate “diversity” with “inclusion” or “diverse teams” with “inclusive teams,” and do not use “diverse” to refer to an individual.

• Additional terms to consider: Leadership that represents a cross-section of your employee base and the communities you serve; team members with a range of identities and experiences; a workplace where everyone can see people similar to themselves among colleagues and especially leadership.

• What to know: “Implicit bias” is preferred over the term “unconscious bias,” which implies that these biases are outside our awareness and control; all people at an organization have the ability to become aware of implicit biases in themselves and others and take action to mitigate their impacts.

• Additional terms to consider: Preferences; assumptions; exclusionary behavior; decisions not based on merit; thinking/beliefs rooted in stereotypes.

• What to know: Privilege refers to the benefits and advantages that come to a person solely from being a member of a group. Privilege is often not what a person is given, but the hurdles and barriers they don’t have to negotiate or overcome.

• Additional terms to consider: Tailwinds; opportunities you may have had that others were blocked from accessing.

• What to know: Although each word has a different meaning, “DEI” has become a shorthand and a sometime - challenged term in workplaces in certain regions where it may have taken on a negative connotation beyond its true meaning. Some organizations, especially those that are tailoring by region, are becoming more precise in their language, selecting words that accurately reflect the concepts they are trying to communicate.

• Additional terms to consider: Building inclusive workplaces; inclusive cultures; fairness and inclusion; environments where everyone can thrive; workplaces that work for everyone.