Glossary of Terms
BIPOC stands for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. It is a term used to emphasize the unique experiences, challenges, and systemic racism faced by Black and Indigenous communities while also being inclusive of other people of color. The term aims to center the specific histories and ongoing struggles of Black and Indigenous people, who often face different forms of discrimination compared to other racial and ethnic groups.
- Black refers to individuals of African descent who have historically faced systemic racism, slavery, and ongoing discrimination.
- Indigenous refers to the original inhabitants of a region, such as Native Americans in the United States, First Nations in Canada, and other Indigenous peoples globally. They have experienced colonization, cultural erasure, and marginalization.
- People of Color is a broader term that includes all non-white individuals, such as Latinx, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Pacific Islander communities.
BIPOC is intended to acknowledge the specific and varied experiences of different communities of color while promoting solidarity among them. It highlights the importance of addressing the distinct forms of racism and inequality that each group faces.
Activism: The practice of campaigning to bring about social or political change. Activism can take many forms, from grassroots organizing to online advocacy.
Affinity Bias: The unconscious tendency to favor people who share similar backgrounds, interests, or experiences. In corporate settings, this bias can hinder the advancement of BIPOC women by reinforcing homogeneity in leadership.
Allyship: The practice of using one’s privilege to support and advocate for marginalized communities. True allyship involves ongoing learning, self-reflection, and active support.
Authentic Leadership: A leadership style that emphasizes being genuine and true to one’s values. For BIPOC women, this can involve balancing cultural authenticity with the demands of corporate environments.
Cisgender: A term used to describe individuals whose gender identity matches the sex they were assigned at birth, as opposed to transgender individuals.
Cultural Capital: The non-financial social assets that promote social mobility. For BIPOC women, cultural capital might include unique perspectives and experiences that can be leveraged in leadership roles.
Colorism: Discrimination based on skin tone, where lighter skin is often privileged over darker skin within and outside of communities of color.
Code-Switching: The practice of shifting the way one speaks, behaves, or presents themselves depending on the social context, often to accommodate or avoid negative attention from the dominant culture.
Cultural Appropriation: The adoption or use of elements of one culture by members of another culture, often without permission and in ways that can be disrespectful or exploitative.
Double Bind: A situation where BIPOC women in leadership are subject to conflicting expectations—such as being seen as too assertive or not assertive enough—making it difficult to navigate their roles without facing criticism.
Decolonization: The process of deconstructing colonial ideologies, including re-evaluating history, culture, and knowledge systems, to reclaim and revitalize indigenous identities and practices.
Diaspora: Communities of people who live outside their shared country of origin or ancestry but maintain active connections with it. The African Diaspora, for example, refers to communities of African descent living around the world.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI): A set of policies and practices aimed at promoting the fair treatment, access, opportunity, and advancement for all individuals, while striving to identify and eliminate barriers that have historically led to the exclusion of underrepresented groups.
Executive Presence: A combination of qualities that conveys confidence, competence, and leadership ability. For BIPOC women, this often involves navigating biases related to both race and gender while maintaining authenticity.
Emotional Tax: The heightened level of vigilance and stress that BIPOC individuals, particularly women, experience in the workplace due to ongoing discrimination, bias, and the need to prove their worth continuously.
Empowerment: The process of gaining freedom, power, and control over one’s own life and claiming rights and opportunities, particularly in contexts where these have been historically denied.
Gaslighting: A form of psychological manipulation where a person or group makes someone question their reality, memory, or perceptions, often used to undermine someone’s confidence or sense of agency.
Glass Ceiling: A symbolic barrier that prevents women, particularly BIPOC women, from advancing to the highest levels of leadership and management within organizations, despite qualifications and achievements.
Glass Cliff: A phenomenon where women, particularly women of color, are more likely to be placed in leadership roles during times of crisis or downturn, where the risk of failure is higher.
Inclusive Leadership: A leadership approach that values diversity and actively seeks to create a culture of inclusion within an organization. For BIPOC women executives, this may involve championing policies and practices that address systemic inequalities.
Imposter Syndrome: A psychological pattern where individuals doubt their accomplishments and have a persistent fear of being exposed as a “fraud,” often prevalent among women and people of color in professional settings.
Intersectionality: A term coined by Kimberlé Crenshaw to describe how various social identities (e.g., race, gender, sexuality, class) intersect to create unique experiences of oppression or privilege.
Leadership Pipeline: The progression of employees through the ranks of an organization, particularly with a focus on preparing individuals for leadership positions. For BIPOC women, ensuring a strong pipeline involves creating opportunities for advancement at every level.
Mentorship vs. Sponsorship: Mentorship involves providing guidance and advice, while sponsorship involves actively advocating for someone’s advancement within an organization. BIPOC women executives often need both to navigate and succeed in corporate environments.
Microaggressions: Subtle, often unintentional, comments or actions that can be discriminatory or offensive, particularly to people from marginalized communities. These can accumulate over time and contribute to a hostile environment.
Pay Equity: The principle of equal pay for work of equal value. For BIPOC women executives, this involves addressing disparities not only between genders but also across different racial and ethnic groups.
Resilience: The ability to recover from or adapt to challenges and adversity. Within the context of BIPOC communities, resilience often reflects the strength and perseverance developed in response to systemic oppression.
Restorative Justice: A system of criminal justice that focuses on the rehabilitation of offenders through reconciliation with victims and the community, rather than punishment. It is often used as a framework for addressing harm within communities.
Safe Space: A place or environment in which people, especially those from marginalized communities, can feel confident that they will not be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment, or any other emotional or physical harm.
Stereotype Threat: The fear of confirming negative stereotypes about one’s social group, which can lead to stress and hinder performance, particularly in academic or professional settings.
Tokenism: The practice of making only a perfunctory or symbolic effort to include members of minority groups, often by promoting a small number of BIPOC individuals to high-profile positions without addressing broader issues of inequality.
White Privilege: The societal privileges that benefit white people over non-white people in some societies, particularly if they are unaware of these advantages.
WOC (Women of Color): A term used to describe women who identify as belonging to non-white racial or ethnic groups, often emphasizing shared experiences of gendered racism.
