Language has the ability to build relationships and forge connections, but it’s equally liable for creating barriers and impacting someone’s sense of belonging. A sense of belonging can lead to better and more meaningful retention rates, and then result in higher user satisfaction. Along with team members, our users, community members, and clients should feel like they belong with Amara.
Hubspot defines inclusive communication as, “Language that avoids biases, slang, or expressions that discriminate against groups of people based on race, gender, or socioeconomic status. Inclusive language allows you to resonate with more audiences by speaking and writing in more impartial ways.” In the spirit of inclusion, we have put together guidelines we strive to follow when writing, speaking, or otherwise communicating.
Guidelines for Inclusive Language
When communicating, keep inclusivity top of mind:
- Be aware of who you might be excluding. The first step is to consciously make the commitment to being more aware. After writing an email, we should review the content and ask ourselves, “Am I inadvertently excluding anyone with the wording I’ve chosen?”
- While speaking, writing emails, or utilizing other forms of communication, make sure you don’t use gender-specific terms (“guys” is a common one) and instead go for words like “folks,” “team,” or “all.”
- Instead of making assumptions about biological parents and defaulting to the terms “mother” and “father,” define the family unit with terms such as “guardian,” “parent,” or “caregiver.”
- Same for relationships. Using “spouse” or “partner” is always better than “husband” or “wife.”
- Use gender-neutral language when referencing careers and professions (“chairperson” instead of “chairman”).
- Consider listing your pronouns (“she/her,” “he/him,” “they/them”) in your email signature, LinkedIn profile, and other client-facing communications.
- Try using non-prescriptive language around faith and belief systems. “Sending positive thoughts” is usually a better option than “keeping you in our prayers.” Be mindful of other belief systems and the holidays your clients and team members celebrate (“Happy holidays” is better than “Merry Christmas”).
- Steer clear of using words that are ableist in nature, such as “blind,” “dumb,” “deaf,” “insane,” “lame,” “crazy.” These terms have the potential to be very offensive.
- Avoid using contradictory phrases like “awfully good.” These types of phrases create confusion not only for international audiences but also for people who identify as neurodivergent.
- Proceed with caution when using slang, as many slang terms have negative connotations from centuries ago. For example, “grandfather in” actually refers to a term from the 1800s that described a way to prevent Black Americans from voting.
Undoing “Othering”
A good place to start is to learn the skill of spotting exclusive language. Think about who the intended audience is: who is included and who is excluded?
Oftentimes, exclusive language is used out of habit. A writer may have read a phrase thousands of times and never questioned reusing it until someone speaks up. A major example is exclusive language directed towards gender. Even when a gender distinction is not necessary for the content, an author might picture their intended audience as all-men. They may refer to all of the people in history as “man” or “mankind” which creates a picture that the default human is a man. This sets aside any human who isn’t a man outside the in-group. Undoing “othering” in this situation can be as simple as using the more inclusive term “humanity.” Because no one is the “default” human, even if some types of people have been treated that way by their society. There is no factory-setting human!
Learning to spot exclusive language can bring up new and interesting questions:
Who is my audience and what are their needs?
How can I invite more people to this conversation?
Is this language alienating someone?
Finding answers to these questions can help orient writers in a more inclusive direction. This includes choosing inclusive alternatives to exclusive phrases:
Exclusive:
- Hey guys!
- Ladies and gentlemen…
- In the history of man…
Inclusive:
- Hey y’all! (shoutout to our Southern US readers)
- Esteemed guests…
- In the history of humanity…
Fun fact: Don’t worry about the word “history”. It’s not actually a gendered word at all and doesn’t mean “his” + “story.” It is unrelated to the pronoun “his” and originally referred to accumulative knowledge obtained by inquiry.