Diversity Glossary

Diversity

'Diversity' means variety in the sense of social and cultural differences and similarities between people. Social diversity in companies, organizations, public administrations and universities is reflected in personal diversity with people of different lifestyles and forms of work.

Diversity management

'Diversity Management' (DiM) is a personnel development approach for creating a non-discriminatory working environment and promoting personal diversity in the structures of companies, organizations, administrations and universities. The concept deals with the analysis of structures, personnel processes and changes to organizational culture. In addition to the economic benefits of diversity management, it is equally important to recognize individual skills and talents and to understand diversity as a special potential. In this sense, DiM is a targeted process that takes place on both a structural and individual level.

Empowerment

The term 'empowerment' translates as "self-empowerment" and originates from the American social work, civil rights and self-help movement. In social pedagogy and psychosocial work, 'empowerment' is regarded as an approach to resource-oriented intervention. Empowerment is a process in which people in a disadvantaged position develop their own strengths and use social resources to improve their living conditions. The aim is to increase the (re)gaining of self-determination and autonomy in people's lives and to enable them to represent and shape their own interests on their own initiative and under their own responsibility

Gender / Sex

As early as the 1970s, Ann Oakley proposed the distinction between 'sex' as a biological condition of gender and 'gender' as a social and cultural assignment of social gender roles. This separation of the concept of gender makes it possible to understand and negotiate the constructedness of gender in cultural and historical contexts. In medicine and healthcare, the distinction between 'sex' and 'gender' makes it possible to focus on biological dimensions on the one hand and social factors influencing gender on health on the other.

Gender mainstreaming

According to the Amsterdam Treaty of May 1, 1999, the EC Member States are obliged to make equality between women and men a cross-sectional task of policy ('gender mainstreaming'). The Council of Europe's official explanation of gender mainstreaming reads: "Gender mainstreaming consists of the (re)organization, improvement, development and evaluation of decision-making processes, with the aim of ensuring that the actors involved in policy-making adopt the perspective of equality between women and men in all areas and at all levels."

Gender and diversity management

Both gender mainstreaming and diversity management are integrative, proactive and holistic equality policy strategies. The opportunities and potential of individuals are recognized, promoted and expanded beyond discriminatory stereotypes. The aim of both concepts is to do justice to people with their different life realities and not to determine their membership of a particular group of people on the basis of simplified, constructed attributions and characteristics. Gender and diversity management therefore promote a very differentiated and reflected perception of mutually dependent categories of inequality.
As part of the implementation of gender and diversity management, the first step is to hold the management and leadership levels of an organization accountable according to the top-down principle in order to optimize goals, visions, mission statements, decisions and thus organizational structures and cultures in terms of gender equality policy.

Social inclusion

The term inclusion is derived from the Latin term 'inclusio' and means 'inclusion'. In addition to the goal of a non-discriminatory working environment and personnel development with regard to individual strengths, the idea of inclusion is a further step on the way to a diverse university. Social inclusion presupposes that all people and their individuality are recognized and valued, without pursuing the goal of assimilation. Promoting heterogeneous group compositions and the associated equal rights and participation of all people is the goal of social inclusion.