# Actively excluded

Back in August, Jelena Woehr shared this on Twitter:

> They’re not “male dominated” industries, they’re “industries from which women and non-binary people are actively excluded.”

> “Dominated” implies there was, at some point, a fair competition.

It may seem like a little thing, but to be honest, this reframing matters a lot.

A lot of folks justify male-dominated industries by saying bullshit like “women just aren’t as interested in STEM” or “men are just better at coding.” It allows very smart idiots to justify sexism and racism with “science.”

I’ve started using “actively excluded groups” or “people who have been traditionally excluded” instead of phrases of like “marginalized” and “under-represented.”

The first two phrases call the situation what it is. The second two sugarcoat it.

If we want things to change, we need to be honest about what’s happening.