There is no denying this inequity — working in this industry, we intuitively know it exists. But the more we learned from Be Equitable, the more we had to confront the realities, and challenge the behaviours that our industry has become accustomed to. Be Equitable were open and willing to navigate us through this.

When Michael addressed our use of the term ‘WIP’, she didn’t criticise but she didn’t just move on either. Instead, she asked us to PAUSE — a model used by Be Equitable (and now FTP) to stop and reflect on a situation that should be discussed. With Be Equitable’s guidance, we unpacked the significance of this seemingly insignificant acronym. And instead of splintering our relationship, this became an important moment in realising how much work our industry has to do, and how to approach these necessary conversations going forward.


A short, incomplete vocabulary of discriminatory terms used in our industry:


WIP: 
An acronym for work in progress, that holds painful connotations of violence and repression.
Alts: progress meetings, check-ins, catch-ups

Guys:
Exclusionary language, not gender neutral
Alts: folks, team, all, colleagues

Empower: 
Implies that one individual or group should have power over another
Alts: lift up, create space for

See/hear: 
e.g. ‘see more’, or ‘hear more’. These terms are not inclusive to all 
Alts: learn more, find out more, recognise, distinguish

Shooting for/Aiming for: 
Associated with gun violence
Alts: focus on, work towards

Master/Mastery: 
The term ‘master’ carries strong connotations of slavery, conquering and colonisation
Alts: (Master), expert, specialist (Mastery), learn, achieve, overcome