Blog | 07 October 2021
Who is welcome on your website?
Part 2: Invite others – show a better world!
This part 2 of the series is about how you can challenge yourself and your texts. It builds on part 1 where we tell you how to map your texts. In part 3, we give advice on how to work with language as a tool.
Suppose you are the web editor of your organisation, and your mission is to reach as many different readers as possible. Obviously, your organisation doesn't want any visitor to feel forgotten, invisible or discriminated against when they come to your website. But how to do this? And what are the pitfalls?
In this three-part blog series, you'll learn about the Language Consultants' approach to working with language to create anti-discrimination and inclusive websites. Of course, it's about complying with the Discrimination Act – but not only. Inclusive texts make websites more welcoming to more people, which leads to better democracy and better business. We propose a three-step approach: map, challenge and write.
Part 2: Invite others – show a better world!
As you and your colleagues start to map out your website's content, you will probably find gaps to fill. Your website probably reflects your own values and living conditions and now is the time to broaden your perspectives. By including more people in your texts and images in a nuanced way, you show that a more equal world is possible.
Challenge the norms that emerged when you researched your website. Let descriptions, images and examples show what is possible, instead of how it 'usually' is.
Show diversity to counteract stereotypes
Try featuring men in contexts related to children or cooking, and featuring women in contexts related to construction or management. This is one way to challenge stereotypes about what women and men are expected to do.
Stereotypes help perpetuate inequalities and prejudices, while new perspectives and angles can broaden our ideas of what is possible. Review your website with a critical eye to discover how you describe people, what characteristics are attributed to them, who is active and passive, who has power and who is the exception – make every effort to avoid stereotypes.
Flipping the perspective to see norms
Another way to challenge yourself and your own perceptions is to flip your perspectives. Test your text to see what happens if you describe what is unusual or deviant as if it were the norm.
For example, ask yourself: What would happen if I described an area as 'Swedish' instead of 'immigrant' in the same way? What would your text be like if the rainbow family was the norm instead of the heterosexual nuclear family?
When you reverse the perspective, it may be easier to look at the problem in a new light. For example, what happens to the lack of equality between men and women if we present static in the opposite way? Here is an example:
"Women's wages are lower partly because they take 80% of parental leave."
This is a very common way of formulating income inequality. Since it is women and their wages that are the focus of this sentence, the responsibility is implicitly placed on them. It seems that it is the responsibility of women to solve a complex social phenomenon that many more people must be involved in solving. Try writing it like this instead:
"Men's wages are higher partly because they take 20% of parental leave."
If we choose to turn the tables and describe the problem from a different angle, maybe we can work on change in new ways?
Combining different perspectives
Keeping multiple perspectives alive at the same time on the website can be difficult, but it is necessary to avoid portraying people in a one-sided way. Consider the idea that a woman can be both foreign-born, have a disability and sit on a local council. A person with transgender expression can also be a parent and coach of a basketball team.
Keep this in mind when choosing examples and illustrating your texts with pictures. Show a better world with more opportunities for more people.
Include without labeling
Show all people in all kinds of contexts, so that they are not only seen as representatives of a certain group and singled out as 'the other'. For example, don't just write about same-sex relationships when it comes to Pride Week, but let a gay couple be a natural part of, for example, outdoor activities, elderly care or completely different areas. You can solve this by writing examples, doing interviews or showing pictures.
Make it a matter of course to, for example, direct information about accessible hiking trails to everyone instead of referring people with physical disabilities to a separate page or heading. Make diversity a natural part of communication.
Hopefully, you've now been challenged a bit, and want to invite more people to your website. In part 3 of the blog series, you can read about how you can use language and texts to do so.
