Equality, diversity and inclusion – where we stand
Page owner: Equality, diversity and inclusion director
The CIEP is working to embed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) across everything we do. We aim to foster an environment where all members feel safe and equally able to contribute to CIEP activities.
Take a look at the following resources to discover more about our values and where we stand.
The CIEP Dignity Policy
This is the framework that underpins our EDI journey. It shows you how to seek support or report if you experience or witness unacceptable behaviour, including discrimination, harassment, victimisation and bullying.
Publishing opportunities for freelancers from under-represented backgrounds
Publishers are increasingly recognising that many aspects of their business have long suffered as a result of the industry's lack of diversity. Many of them are now actively trying to put that right.
In this guide, you'll find a list of publishers that have told us they're specifically seeking editors and proofreaders from a wider range of backgrounds, along with their contact details.
In the additional sources section, we've listed a number of other organisations whose aim is to support under-represented groups in the publishing workforce.
CIEP members in need: Hardship funds and other support
Many of us will experience periods of financial hardship at some point during our working lives. This has become more apparent during the past couple of years of turmoil and uncertainty, and in the current difficult economic climate. For those of us who are freelancers, some of the safety nets that provide workers with protection in times of need may not be available to us.
That’s why we've put together this brief booklet. It lists various funds and other resources that can assist CIEP members in need of financial support.
Discover the CIEP knowledge bank
We’re building a bank of resources to help members understand some of the key issues and concerns in relation to inclusive language. We’ll be adding to this page on an ongoing basis so don’t forget to bookmark it!
If there’s something specific you’d like us to cover, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Blog posts
- Authenticity reading. Part 1: What editors need to know
- Authenticity reading. Part 2: Becoming an authenticity reader
- ‘Non-native’ and ‘native’: Why the CIEP is no longer using those terms
- Forum matters: Editorial terminology: Grammar, inclusivity and meaning
- Gendered language and children’s books
- Linguistic prejudice: time to check our unconscious biases
- Linguistic prejudice: towards more inclusive editing and proofreading practices
Fact sheets and focus papers
- 12 ways to make your online communication more accessible
- Being aware of gendered language
- In a globalised world, should we retain different Englishes? Lynne Murphy
- The state of gendered language, Sarah Grey
- What’s in a name? Disability terminology for writers and editors, Tom Shakespeare
Guide
Glossary
Newsletter article
- Equality, diversity, inclusion, Editorial Excellence 9 (July 2019)
- Exploring representation and language, Editorial Excellence 22 (October 2021)
How to source expertise
It always pays to consult a variety of sources on current preferred terminology and alternatives to potentially offensive or otherwise inappropriate language.
CIEP anti-racism work
Our Anti-Racism Working Group (ARWG) is a group of members who came together to help us put the CIEP commitment to anti-racism into action.
More resources to guide you
There are many other online resources available that can help you with language, inclusivity and representation. We’ve started to collect some of them here.
- 10 tips for examining our language in shared editorial spaces (blog post and podcast; The Editing Podcast)
- Accessible publishing in action (blog post; BookMachine)
- American Philosophical Association guidelines for non-sexist use of language
- Autistic Hoya, blog on ableism and language
- Conscious Language Toolkit for Editors (paid-for resource)
- Conscious Style Guide
- Creating accessible ebooks with the CircularFlo app (InDesign and Mac required)
- EFA Word List of Diversity and Contested Terms (members only)
- Gender and inclusive language (blog post; Rabbit with a Red Pen)
- GLAAD media reference guide
- Inclusive Publishing in Australia: An Introductory Guide (free guide)
- My Pronouns – personal pronouns and why they matter
- National Center on Disability and Journalism, style guide
- Northwestern family institute, inclusive language guide
- NUJ Race Reporting guide
- NUJ Reporting Poverty guide
- People with Disability Australia, language guide
- Stonewall UK glossary of terms
- Sum of Us: A Progressive’s Style Guide
- The Diversity Style Guide
- The Radical Copyeditor
- There Is No Perfect Word: A Transgender Glossary of Sorts
- Trans Journalists Association style guide
- UK Cabinet Office Disability Unit: Inclusive language guide
We do our best to feature resources that are aligned with our values. However, the CIEP isn’t responsible for content on external sites and doesn’t necessarily endorse every view expressed.
Where we stand – public statements from the CIEP
A STATEMENT BY THE CIEP, 5 June 2020
As editors and proofreaders, there is so much that we can each do to make space for and amplify voices that have historically been and continue to be marginalised and silenced.
As we draw to the end of a week of action centred on the US but exposing structural racism that is no less evident here in the UK and which resonates worldwide, the CIEP Council:
- commits to continuing action to ensure that CIEP spaces are inclusive of and safe for our BAME members and members of colour
- commits to exploring and dismantling the barriers to participating in our profession that face BAME editors and proofreaders
- commits to advocating for and modelling inclusive language, and delivering content that supports our members in doing the same
- commits to seeking out and amplifying BAME voices and the voices of editors/proofreaders of colour worldwide
- commits to supporting BAME members and members of colour in conceiving of and implementing ideas that can drive change within the CIEP.
A STATEMENT BY THE CIEP COUNCIL AND THE CIEP ANTI-RACISM WORKING GROUP, 13 August 2021
As a UK chartered body representing an international membership of editors and proofreaders, the CIEP stands with, and condemns the racist abuse of, the authors of colour who have highlighted slurs, stereotyping and other problems in Kate Clanchy’s book Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me.
The CIEP is committed to doing whatever it can to help dismantle systemic barriers faced by writers of colour, and by those of other backgrounds and identities too often still marginalised and underrepresented in publishing. Challenging books and other published materials that perpetuate racism and other misrepresentations and stereotypes, intentionally or otherwise, is a vital part of that.
Editors and proofreaders can play an essential role in this. We are intermediaries between authors and their anticipated readership. We can highlight potentially harmful or problematic language and depictions, suggest alternatives, and alert publishers to the damage they do if they allow such things to get into print.
The CIEP is striving to provide resources and other support to enable our members to edit consciously and inclusively, to ensure diversity among editors is recognised as a strength, and to empower editors of colour to be heard, alongside writers of colour, in and beyond the publishing industry.