Inclusive language is one of those things we hear a lot about at the moment. But what I wanna share first off is why it’s so important. And every time we use language, the language we use has the potential to either include or exclude. So our language has impact. And as an example of that, there’s a woman I was working with last week who shared that in her role, she’s asked almost weekly what her husband does for work.
Now this woman’s partner is also a woman, so she doesn’t have a husband. And every time she’s asked that question, she’s forced to do one of two things, either to lie and say that her husband does X, Y, or Z, or to come out and share her sexual orientation. And that’s a really challenging position for her to be put in.
So the language we use in that scenario, if she’d been asked, first off, Does she have a partner and what her partner does, it’s a much easier conversation and it’s a much lower level of cognitive and stress for her. So being really clear on that, thinking about our language, and we really talk about inclusive language as an approach.
So this isn’t about a list of words or a dictionary of inclusive language. It’s about starting to be more mindful and starting to take a deliberate approach to putting into practice using language that works not just for dominant majority, but for everyone. And it can be challenging. So when we slip up, which we inevitably will do, we wanna call it out, we wanna apologise, and we wanna let our teams know that we’re working on it and ask our teams for feedback and share that we hope they’re working on it too, and that we’re supportive, that we’re acting with compassion when any of us slip up.
