Oceanography | Vol.34, No.2
A Short Glossary of Inclusive Language
Compiled by Susanne E. Craig and EeShan Bhatt
FROM THE TOS JEDI COMMITTEE
Words matter—that old adage that many of us may have heard
as children,
Sticks and stones may break my bones,
but words will never hurt me,
is a harmful fallacy. In reality, the language we use has tremen-
dous power to alienate, exclude, deride, humiliate, and wound.
On the other hand, thoughtful use of language can signal
openness, inclusivity, admiration, and celebration, or simply be
an expression of empathy and care for our fellow humans. As part
of The Oceanography Society (TOS) Justice, Equity, Diversity,
and Inclusion Committee’s series of columns in Oceanography,
here we provide a glossary of terms that are often used while dis-
cussing topics such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation,
and gender identity.
It should be explicitly stated that this list is neither definitive
nor exhaustive. Indeed, the terms included here are likely heavily
influenced by the authors’ own lived experiences and the lenses
through which we see the world. Language is a living entity, a
fluid social construct subject to rapid changes and overlaid with
regional nuances. Indeed, what may be accurate and accept-
able terminology for one person may be entirely unacceptable
for another. Keeping this in mind, the following glossary is an
attempt to group together some of the acronyms and phrases
that are most commonly used today in social justice studies and
bodies of work and that may have particular relevance to our
community of ocean-related scientists, technologists, and stake-
holders. We have borrowed heavily from a wide range of excel-
lent existing scholarship and activism and have cited all sources
used. We encourage the reader to follow the links to these multi-
media resources and, perhaps, use them as teaching and dis-
cussion materials with your students, colleagues, and mentees.
Finally, it is our hope that this glossary, along with the links pro-
vided to more comprehensive definitions and discussions, helps
to define terms that you may have heard used, but not under-
stood, and that it will serve to remind us of the power of the
words we use in our everyday professional and personal lives.
We begin by defining the very words that form the name of
our committee: Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI).
JUSTICE
Justice is fairness in the way that people are treated.1 However,
in the context we discuss it here, it is more correct to define
social justice. This term can be formally defined in several
ways2 and references therein, but the overarching principles common to
all definitions are:
• Equal rights
• Equal opportunity
• Equal treatment
Or, in other words, social justice means equal rights and equi-
table opportunities for all.2
When we think of implementing social justice in our com-
munities, some examples might include correcting the racial,
gender-based, socioeconomic, or geographical injustices and
inequities that have created barriers to those entering our field,
bringing to bear our professional capabilities in the field of
environmental justice (see Table 1 for a definition of this term,
which is strongly related to social justice), and/or confronting
our relationship with colonial science (see Table 1 for a defini-
tion of decolonizing science).
EQUITY
Equity refers to fairness and justice and is distinguished from
equality in that, whereas equality means providing the same to
all, equity means recognizing that we do not all start from the
same place and must acknowledge and make adjustments to
counter imbalances (Figure 1). This is an ongoing process that
requires us to identify and overcome intentional and uninten-
tional barriers arising from bias or systemic structures.3
FIGURE 1. The difference between equality and equity. Interaction Insti-
tute for Social Change, Illustration by Angus Maguire, https://interaction-
institute.org/illustrating-equality-vs-equity/
EQUALITY
EQUITY