I recently saw the use of the term “minoritized” (e.g. A disproportionate burden of illness and disability affects minoritized children in the U.S) used in a manuscript draft from research looking at equitable implementation of an intervention in healthcare systems. What are folx thoughts on this term vs. marginalized, underrepresented, disadvantaged subgroups? Thanks!
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Hi @Leslie Great question. Sorry for the slow response.
In general, I think that all the terms you cite above are various attempts to describe specific groups of people who are having common experiences without really being clear or specific about what experience we’re talking about.
I do see the good in trying to put the onus on the “minoritizer” while simultaneously not wanting to label someone experiencing minoritization with some sort of permanent identity component.
I think it’s a good first step even if it’s unwieldy since most of the minoritization is the result of non-random actions.
On a deeper level, the overuse of the concept of the word “minority” often obscures the reality of what we’re trying to talk about. The top 1% of income earners are, in fact, a minority. But that isn’t what people usually mean when they say “minority” so it’s a difficult place to start from.
We always encourage people to be as brave as they can and talk specifically about what you mean in writing narratives about equity.
Thanks @ Heather. I appreciate the call to be more specific. Alex Kapitan really emphasized that as well when Alex presented for Taking Data Equity. In a presentation the other day I heard someone describe the populations she was referring to as those who are racialized, minoritized and marginalized - all together in the same sentence.
It would be great to hear others’ perspectives too. Thanks!
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I really like this resource:
I used pushed to the margins by white supremacy culture. I can live with minoritized and have 100 moved away from minority for over 10 years because minor means less than and ity is a state of being always. Who wants to be less than always?
I believe one makes it part of our identity instead of a circumstance that I can get out of.
I also challenge"at risk youth of color" if we are using “at risk” we should name what the risk is which is WSC.
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Marta, Thanks for your helpful feedback. I really like your approach of looking at the individual parts of the words and what they really mean.
YAY! and awesome. Glad it was received:)
Marta