Washington State Glossary for Inclusive & Equitable Workplaces
Welcome to the 4th version of the Glossary for Inclusive & Equitable Workplaces, previously known as the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging glossary!
The intent of this glossary is to provide state employees with a compilation of equity-related terms and their meanings. When we have a shared vocabulary and agree on the meaning of the words we use, we are better able to collaborate across departments, teams, and the communities that we serve.
Words carry meaning, power, and impact. It is important that we understand the meanings, recognize the power, and demonstrate reflection, continual learning, and accountability for the impact of the words we use in Washington State government. It is also important to understand that the human beings who are educating us about these terms are living the identities and experiences described in this glossary.
Because people are continually evolving, the words we use to describe them need to evolve as well. This resource is meant to support the work of improving access, advancing equity, and eliminating systemic racism and other forms of oppression from the work we do. This is not meant to serve as a primary resource in any specialized area such as law, medicine, or academia.
Thank you to the Washington State Business Resource Groups, the Washington State DEI Council Glossary Workgroup, The Department of Health, Department of Enterprise Services, Office of Equity, OFM Communications for your hard work and dedication to this body of work. The work that was poured into this version will directly impact those who experience disparities, exclusion, and systemic oppression in the workplace. Thanks to your vital contribution to this work our state will have a practical resource guiding us to maintain a growth mindset while affirming and embodying diversity, equity, inclusion, antiracism, and belonging every step of the way.
You may request a Glossary Edit if you would like a term added to or a definition edited in this glossary. Please note that the review committee meets quarterly to review these submissions and is committed to the shared-power process, so these edits make take several months to research and to respond to.
Term |
Definition |
|---|---|
| Classism |
Oppression, prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination based on a person’s actual or perceived class to advantage and strengthen the dominant class. |
| Color |
Pigmentation, complexion, or skin shade or tone. Skin color can be, but is not necessarily, a characteristic of race. See Colorism5.
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| Colorblind Ideology |
Colorblind Ideology is the belief that discrimination can be eradicated by treating individuals as equals without focusing on race or ethnicity. Colorblind ideology assumes institutional racism and discrimination have been largely eradicated. This belief can lead to a dismissal of social and cultural factors still affecting many people of color, a dismissal of the cultural heritage and unique perspectives of individuals, a denial of negative racial experiences, as well as a rejection of policies that attempt to address existing inequities. Colorblindness is typified by the phrase, “I don’t see color,” with color referring to ethnicity, culture, and race. |
| Colorism |
The belief that a person’s skin color, tone, shade, pigmentation, or complexion is superior to another’s within a specific racial or ethnic group and includes discrimination based on the perceived lightness, darkness, or other color characteristic of a person. See Color6.
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| Cultural Appropriation |
Theft, exploitation, or mimicry of cultural elements for one’s own personal use or profit — including symbols, dress, art, music, dance, language, land, customs, medicine, etc. — often without understanding, acknowledgment, or respect for its value in the original culture. In the United States, it results from the assumption of a white dominant culture’s right to take other cultural elements. See White-Dominant Culture7.
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| Cultural Competence |
An ability to interact effectively with people of all cultures and understand many cultural frameworks, values, and norms. Cultural competence comprises four components: A key component of cultural competence is respectfully engaging others with cultural dimensions and perceptions different from our own and recognizing that none is superior to another. Cultural competence is a developmental process that evolves over an extended period. |
| Cultural Humility |
Approach to respectfully engaging others with cultural identities different from your own and recognizing that no cultural perspective is superior to another. Cultural humility may look different for different people or groups. For example, in a white-dominant culture, the practice of cultural humility for white people includes acknowledging systems of oppression and involves critical self-reflection, lifelong learning and growth, a commitment to recognizing and sharing power, and a desire to work toward institutional accountability. The practice of cultural humility for people of color includes accepting that the dominant culture does exist, that institutional racism is in place, to recognize one’s own response to the oppression within it, to work toward dismantling it through the balanced process of calling it out, and taking care of one’s self. |
| Cultural Racism |
Comprises the cumulative effects of a racialized worldview, based on belief in essential racial differences that favor the dominant racial group over others. These effects are suffused throughout the culture via institutional structures, ideological beliefs, and personal everyday actions of people in the culture and are passed on from generation to generation. |
| Culture |
The summarization of the attitudes, values, and behaviors that define who we are as a people. Culture provides a template with which meaning is determined. It is the blueprint for living in a society. |
