Add definition for overrepresented majority, underrepresented minority (#116)

*  Added Asian terms and subterms, Orientalism

* feat: add overrepresented majoirty

*   [DRAFT] Added overrepresented-majority

* Adding underrepresented minority

* 🐛 Fixes flag build issue

* Improve interlinking

* flag:

Co-authored-by: Tierney Cyren <hello@bnb.im>
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Tatiana Mac 2020-05-07 23:35:23 -07:00 committed by GitHub
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@ -21,3 +21,11 @@ By referring to a group as 'minorities,' it can suggest the group hasn't taken i
## Impact ## Impact
By repeatedly referring to groups as "minorities," they are being infantised to their numerical representation and made to feel minor. The vagueness also abstracts the identify of the marginalised group, making it difficult to address why they are minoritised to begin with. By repeatedly referring to groups as "minorities," they are being infantised to their numerical representation and made to feel minor. The vagueness also abstracts the identify of the marginalised group, making it difficult to address why they are minoritised to begin with.
## See Also
## See also
- [minoritised](/definitions/minoritised)
- [overrepresented majority](/definitions/overrepresented-majority)
- [underrepresented majority](/definitions/underrepresented-majority)

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--- ---
title: Overrepresented Majority title: overrepresented majority (ORM)
slug: overrepresented-majoirty slug: overrepresented-majority
defined: false defined: true
speech: noun
flag:
level: better-alternative
alt-for: underrepresented minority (URM)
reading:
- text: Minority vs minoritize
href: https://www.theodysseyonline.com/minority-vs-minoritize
--- ---
group resulting from social constructs have grant less power or representation compared to other members or groups in society; acts as a contrast to underrepresented minority (URM)
## Usage
When using any term for a group, it's important to contextualise it into people. So, for example, "people from the overrepresented majority are less likely to be affected by this change" over "the overrepresented majority are less likely to be affected by this change."
As the underrepresented minority (URM) is the more commonly used term, it has an impact of focusing issues on that that group, which often can imply and place the burden of fixing the problem is onto that group. Underrepresented can imply that the group can do more to represent themselves.
Meanwhile, the overrepresented majority is usually the group that possesses the power to influence which groups are majoritised (and subsequently receive power) and which groups are minoritised. It renders this power dynamic invisible.
## Preferable To
[minorities](/definitions/minorities)
[underrepresented minorities](/definitions/underrepresented-minorities)
## Benefits
Naming the overrepresented majority allows us to discuss the power dynamic involved, and places emphasis on the fact that it's not about minoritised groups being _underrepresented_, but that it is also about majoritised groups being _overrepresented_.
It also allows prevents the false dichotomy where everyone is either "default/unnamed" or from an underrepresented minority. Without it, people from underrepresented minorities are forced to carry a label when people from overrepresented majorities are not.
## Impact
The term overrepresented majority allows us to discuss the holistic systems and all of the players involved.
## See also
- [minorities](/definitions/minorities)
- [minoritised](/definitions/minoritised)
- [underrepresented majority](/definitions/underrepresented-majority)

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---
title: underrepresented minority (URM)
slug: underrepresented-majority
defined: true
speech: noun
flag:
level: avoid
reading:
- text: Free Dictionary definition
href: https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/underrepresented+minority
---
group whose representation is disproportionately less than their proportion in the general population; often racial or ethnic minority is implied, but can be used to represent any identifier, such as LGBTQIA+, disabled, gender, etc.
abbreviated often to URM
## Issues
Often people use URM to mean "minoritised racial group", when it doesn't explicitly mean racial group in all contexts (even if that's the most commonly used context). It can cause confusion when which minoritised group is being spoken of, and can also lessen/erase additional intersections of identity. For example, if someone is disabled and of a minoritised racial group, using URM to imply racial group can erase their disability.
Using a term like URM can also erase meaningful specificity. For example, an issue might specifically be relevant to Black folks, but by referring to the group as URM, it erases their Blackness, conflates/waters down issues, and reinforces the power dynamic of white and everyone else.
URM can also imply that the group in question isn't "showing up" to be represented; that the burden is on the URM group to show up or to do more to improve their numbers and representation. Meanwhile, the complement, the overrepresented majority, tends to be unnamed.
## Impact
By naming the underrepresented minority often without the overrepresented majority, we are often reinforcing the idea that people harmed by oppressive systems are on the hook to fix them.
By repeatedly referring to groups as "[minorities](/definitions/minorities)," they are being infantilised to their numerical representation and made to feel minor. The vagueness also abstracts the identify of the marginalised group, making it difficult to address why they are minoritised to begin with and often erasing the complexity of those intersections.
## Usage
When using any term for a group, it's important to contextualise it into people. So, for example, "people from the underrepresented minorities are more likely to be affected by this change" over "the underrepresented minority are more likely to be affected by this change."
Additionally, it's important to examine the context of the usage:
- Why are you placing focus on the URM groups?
- Will you also be speaking of the role overrepresented majorities play as well?
- Would examining and speaking of overrepresented majorities be more accurate to your context?
- Is URM accurate?
- If no, can you be more specific than URM?
## See also
- [minorities](/definitions/minorities)
- [minoritised](/definitions/minoritised)
- [overrepresented majority](/definitions/overrepresented-majority)