UK Finance, EY and Microsoft have released a joint report beginning how the financial sector can work together to get rid of non-inclusive language commonly found within the technology and cybersecurity sectors. The report highlights what changes should be made to the language utilized in legacy application systems and coding to assist drive positive action and take away any language that portrays people in an unnecessarily negative light.
The issues concerning language utilized in these areas is one that has previously been highlighted by the united kingdom National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and therefore the US National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST).
Through dedicated research, industry insights and discussions with UK Finance members, the report highlights contentious terms that became synonymous with race and ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, accessibility and criminality. It explores what impact these terms wear society, the financial services industry and individuals, including how non-inclusive terms have created a barrier to recruitment and left staff isolated.
The report suggests alternatives to exchange variety of commonly-used terms. for instance , language aligned to race or ethnicity, like “black market” and “white-list” might be changed to “illegal market” or “allow list” respectively. additionally , terms like “sanity check” may infer A level of disability bias or discrimination and will be changed to “sense check” or “confidence check”.
With organisations currently at different stages of implementing their approaches to diversity and inclusion (D&I), the report identifies key focus areas regarding language and provides a 12-step guide what firms can do to assist drive sustainable change.
David Postings, Chief Executive of UK Finance, said: “Non-inclusive language can alienate and make an unfair and unequal society. With because of our members, EY and Microsoft, we hope that this report offers firms insight into how making changes to language utilized in technology and cybersecurity will drive positive action to the advantage of wider society.”
Link to Microsoft D&I website
Nina Driscoll, Director at EY, said: “Using inclusive language is significant to cultivating the proper kind of behaviours and, ultimately, achieving the simplest outcomes. We hope this report shows firms across the technology and cybersecurity space just how important it’s to use language which makes everyone feel comfortable. Taking a touch of your time now to think about the simplest terminologies to use are going to be of giant benefit within the future.”
Sarah Armstrong-Smith, Chief Security Advisor of Microsoft, said: “Being mindful of the language we use to foster greater inclusion in technology and cybersecurity may be a positive breakthrough . At Microsoft we believe the facility of engaging diverse perspectives. In partnership with UK Finance and EY, the insights offered through this report will foster a more diverse and thriving financial sector as organisations consider their approaches to D&I and welcome in additional changes of benefit to wider society.”
There are many opportunities to emulate what other organisations have achieved through policy and cultural changes. additionally , leveraging capabilities that are built into technology can empower people to act in their own way. Technology companies, like Microsoft, have a critical role to play in making it as easy as possible for people to be mindful of inclusive language and accessibility.
Microsoft has taken steps to deliver change in how it codes and builds products, but Microsoft Office has many inclusive features to make content that’s welcoming, inclusive and accessible to everyone. One example would be the inclusive language feature in Microsoft Editor, which scans content for biased and offensive terms.
There also are other resources Microsoft makes available to assist people during this space, like the Microsoft literary genre Guide. this is often a public version of the design guide that’s used across the industry and includes information on inclusive language, like bias-free communication.
