United Way Survey Is Quizzing America On DEI Terms

In honor of Black History Month, it’s important to educate ourselves on not only the past, but also moving forward. In light of events over the past few years, many people have started educating themselves on privilege, microaggressions, and other forms of internalized issues they may not have realized they were projecting.

It can be a hard pill for many to swallow when they realize the ideas and beliefs they were taught and have passed on to their children aren’t the most accepting of others. While there’s still work to be done on everyone’s part, a new survey is helping Americans realize which areas they need to work on. United Way of the National Capital Area quizzed over 1,000 Americans on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) topics. People from different demographics and across all 50 states got to participate and put their knowledge to the test.

When it comes to the terms that America is most familiar with, white privilege, ageism, classism, racial profiling, and ally were the top 5 terms, with at least 93% of people answering the question correctly. On the opposite end of the spectrum, people had a hard time identifying model minority myth, oppression, gender non-conforming, colorblind, and gender binary.

Less than half of all quiz takers (43.15%) correctly identified model minority myth, which is defined as, “The enduring stereotype that certain groups of people are the “ideal” racial or ethnic minority.” Model minority myth was the least identified term in the quiz.

“The difference between equity and equality is another concept that quiz-takers had trouble with, in comparison to other terms. For many, it’s hard to distinguish the difference between the two,” the team said when evaluating the survey results. “Equity recognizes each person has different circumstances and needs, while equality is giving everyone the exact same resources across the board, regardless of individuals’ or groups of people’s actual needs or opportunities/resources already provided to them.”

When it came to terms with the biggest generational disparities, Gen Z typically knew more terms than Baby Boomers. The term with the biggest difference between the two generations was oppression, which out of all quiz-takers, only 49% answered correctly. According to the results, quiz takers mixed up oppression with discrimination.

“According to the American Psychological Association (APA), discrimination is the ‘unfair or prejudicial treatment of people and groups based on characteristics such as race, gender, age or sexual orientation,’ whereas oppression describes systems or behaviors that disadvantage groups or individuals through formal institutions or informal attitudes,” they said. “Oppression represents institutional and systemic discrimination.”

However, one term that Baby Boomers knew more than Gen Z was anti-semitism, with over 96% of Baby Boomers answering the question correctly. Gen X wasn’t far behind though, with 95% identifying the term correctly.

When looking across terms with the biggest gender disparities, gender non-conforming, gaslighting, discrimination, cisgender, anti-racism and equality vs. equity made the list. While women correctly identified those terms more than men, the terms that had the biggest differences were gender non-conforming and gaslighting.

Overall, it’s clear that the quiz had one purpose and that’s to educate America on these terms. Though it could be embarrassing to many people that feel they are unfamiliar with DEI terms, it’s better to be open and willing to learn, and that’s exactly what this quiz is aiming to do. And while some of these terms refer to groups of different people from different walks of life, Black History Month is the perfect time to work on educating yourself and your peers.

You can find the full survey results and take the quiz yourself here.