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Gender Identity & Workplace Belonging Glossary

Essential language for leaders building gender equity and workplace belonging.

Language around gender and identity continues to evolve. These definitions provide practical clarity for enterprise leaders and teams navigating conversations about gender identity, workplace equity, and authentic belonging.

These terms are referenced throughout The Power of Emergence and offer a shared foundation for deeper understanding.

Workplace Belonging & Allyship

The experience of being accepted, valued, and included as one's authentic self while feeling genuinely connected to others in the workplace. Key elements include leadership empathy, psychological safety, and human-centered culture.
A workplace environment where individuals feel safe to take interpersonal risks, voice concerns, ask questions, admit mistakes, and express their authentic selves without fear of negative consequences. Psychological safety is essential for innovation, learning, and genuine belonging.
The ongoing practice of building relationships with, learning from, and actively supporting marginalized communities to which one does not belong.
Brief, commonplace verbal or behavioral exchanges that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages to members of marginalized groups, whether intentional or unintentional. In workplace contexts, repeated microaggressions can significantly impact belonging and psychological safety.

Understanding Gender & Identity

A social construct framed by a society’s understanding of masculinity and femininity as related to roles, behaviors, expectations, activities, identities, and attributes. This term is often understood as a binary, however, historically and presently, gender is expansive and dynamic. The key elements of an individual's gender are gender identity, gender expression, and gender attribution.
A person’s innate understanding of their own gender.
Of, relating to, or being a person whose gender identity differs from the sex the person had or was identified as having at birth. (Merriam Webster)
Describes a person whose gender identity aligns with sex assigned at birth.
The designation typically assigned at birth based on biological, morphological, hormonal, and genetic characteristics, classified as male, female, or intersex.
A person with ambiguous chromosomal, biological, and or morphological characteristics. Intersex is a “general term used for a variety of conditions in which an individual’s reproductive or sexual anatomy (incl: genitals, secondary sex characteristics, chromosomes, and/or hormone levels) do not fit into the medical/societal definition of male or female.” (Michigan State University)
The way in which someone expresses or displays their gender. This can include clothing, hairstyle, body language, manner of speaking, social interactions, and gender roles. Gender identity and gender expression can differ – for example, a cisgender woman can have an androgynous appearance.
The act of attributing a gender to another with or without knowledge of that person’s gender identity. In Western culture, these assumptions are rooted in our cultural understanding of gender as a binary system and how gender is socialized. Assuming a person’s gender pronouns is one example of gender attribution.
The words used to refer to a person in place of their name (e.g. she/her, he/him, they/them, etc.). A person's pronouns reflect their gender identity and may not align with assumptions based on appearance. Using correct pronouns is a fundamental aspect of respect and workplace belonging.
The process through which a person's authentic gender identity becomes increasingly visible and expressed, both internally and externally. This term emphasizes growth, self-discovery, and alignment rather than departure from a previous state. Also called gender transition.

*InThe Power of Emergence, Ella Samson proposes an updated definition of transgender as: “Of, relating to, or being a person whose gender identity differs from the sex the person has.” Learn more about the memoir at emergecollabs.com/book.

Gender Identities*

An umbrella term encompassing many different gender identities, including agender, nonbinary, genderqueer, gender nonconforming, genderfluid, and others.
A term for a gender identity for those who identify outside of the gender binary, or within and across multiple genders. Nonbinary is often used as an umbrella term for many other gender identities that do not fall on a binary gender category, or are fluid (i.e., genderqueer, gender fluid, bigender etc.)
Gender identity term for those who conceptualize their gender as fluid, moving, and shifting across multiple or many genders
Agender
Not identifying with any gender(s) or not conceptualizing their gender within any specific categories.

* There are many more gender identities than the select ones provided in this glossary; this list is not exhaustive.

Beyond Gender

A person’s innate sense of their emotional, romantic, and sexual attraction to others. Sexual orientation is not dictated by sex or gender identity, and vice versa. Also called sexual identity.

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Several of the definitions included here are adapted (in whole or in part) from Michigan State University. Additional definitions reflect a synthesis of content from both Michigan State University, Merriam Webster, and GenderGP. For more terms, visit Michigan State University’s Gender and Sexuality Glossary and GenderGP’s Glossary of Terms for a comprehensive, thoughtfully researched list.

"The daily experience of a gender-diverse employee can often feel like a ‘death by a thousand cuts.’ True equity and inclusivity require a deeper commitment."

— Ella Samson, The Power of Emergence (Learn More)