Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Principles for Research

ORDE has launched a branch of programming focused on equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in research. In so doing, it behooves us to define these terms and also to begin with principles that EDI ought to be built on.

But, first things first, what is EDI?

Equity: Everyone has access and opportunity at the same levels.

Equity is commonly confused with equality, which refers to everyone getting the same thing. The problem with equality is that depending on your identities and experience, and the vast disparities that many groups face, if everyone is given the same thing, for some it won't be enough to get them access. Equity is everyone having access and opportunity and takes removing barriers to ensure this. 

Diversity: All groups are represented proportionally.

Diversity tends to be used to refer to race and particularly to People of Color, but this ignores other elements of diversity and is used to scapegoat race conversations when it is used in its stead.

Inclusion: Everyone can engage and participate fully as their whole self. 

Although inclusion does mean everyone can engage/participate fully, we often forget that historically some people like white, wealthy, straight, able-bodied cis-men were always included, were always at the table. For this reason, the work of inclusion is ensuring that those who have been and are excluded be allowed to fully participate as their whole selves.

With that foundation, let's explore a couple other EDI principles that should be considered in research.

Power and systems of oppression

Oftentimes people's identities are assumed to impact people in the same way. A race evasive perspective might assume that skin color doesn't matter, but this is ignoring that race is an oppressive system that places power and privilege with white people and oppresses People of Color. Or when someone considers gender and/or LGBTIQ+ issues and does not also consider sexism, homophobia, or other oppressive systems within heteropatriarchy, they are not fully understanding how these are working.

Intersectionality

Legal Scholar, Kimberlé Crenshaw developed the concept of intersectionality, describing, "Intersectionality is a lens through which you can see where power comes and collides, where it interlocks and intersects. It’s not simply that there’s a race problem here, a gender problem here, and a class or LBGTQ problem there. Many times that framework erases what happens to people who are subject to all of these things." Crenshaw urges us to consider power in all social systems and how they work together. In research, this might mean if we are considering gender and not race, the needs and priorities of Women, Trans, and gender-nonconforming People of Color may fall through the cracks or be rendered invisible given their multiple marginal/minoritized identities.

Applying these principles to your research begins with understanding them and then asking, how am I accounting for these in my research, both in the design and the execution? We'll continue exploring these in our EDI in Research Seminars and right here on our blog!

Resources:

The Urgency of Intersectionality - Kimberlé Crenshaw
Problematizing Race as a Variable - Naomi Nishi, ORDE (e-Seminar Video)
Problematizing Race as a Variable - Naomi Nishi, ORDE (Blog)