Diversity and Inclusion: Road to Tolerance, empathy and inclusion

“Unity, not uniformity, must be our aim. We attain unity only through
variety. Differences must be integrated, not annihilated, not absorbed.”
Mary Parker
Follet
The world we live in is a multicultural hub of all kinds of humans
belonging to different races, cultures, and ethnicities. They follow
various religions and have their own pattern of thinking. These humans
interact with one another and form a harmonic world in which their
individual characteristics and thoughts complement each other resulting
in a diverse world which in itself is both beautiful and chaotic. Diversity
in this world can be best depicted in the form of a single classroom in a
school on micro level or on the macro level as in the general assembly
of United Nations in which people from various backgrounds come
together and cooperate with one another under a single goal i.e. to
make world a better and peaceful place to live in. This diversity may or
can lead to some people and communities feel alienated in this world
just because of their quality of being different from others. When such
diverse people come and interact together in same environment, both
positive and negative things happen. Positive things are beneficial for
the whole humanity and negative things can be tackled by virtues such
as tolerance, empathy and inclusion.
In science, over the years, variety of minds have come together
and produced useful results. No doubt that scientific progress lies on
problem solving and collaboration. Different questions, advices and
suggestions from people coming from diverse backgrounds can lead to
new insights. This diversity is not only related to people from different
cultures but also involves minorities such as woman. Role of women in
science is important and diferent than man because they have higher
emotional quotient and are better able to perceive and evaluate
[Link] is very impotant in today’s world as the biggest challenge
in technology is to make machines emotional being and it would be hard
to do without women As Louis Pasteur famously said,
“Science knows no country, because knowledge belongs to humanity,
and is the torch which illuminates the world.”
Diversity is also very integral to a strong economy. Equal opportunities
in education and job enhances the economy of a country. In this way all
groups of society become more engaged and feel a responsibility to
work for their country. Also, this diversity is not only limited to diverse
groups of people but also to the diversity of ideas, skills, and knowledge
which make a particular person, organization or country as a whole
more dynamic and helps in its development.
Lastly, diversity in religion suggests that there are significant
differences in religious beliefs and practices that exist in this world.
Various views on diversity of religion are present such as a Pluralist
presents the view that all religions are equally good and provide good
values, Exclusivist approach on the other hand claims that only one
religion is valuable. While various views regarding religious diversity
exists, interacting with people from various religious background helps
humans to understand each other’s religions and religious sentiments.
This helps to create an understanding and respectable society where
everyone is aware of others sentiments and is considerate of the other
person.
Though diversity is beneficial to us in many ways, but throughout
history and still today is creating a lot of problems. Despite all the
benefits gain through diversity, it also results in racism, political
instability, civil wars and workplace problems. Diversity sometimes
create a system and policies which creates unequal opportunities for
people. As a result, certain privileged people based on their country,
ethnicity, sect, gender, colour of skin or any other factor feel themselves
superior to others and defy other’s rights. This can be done in various
ways such as verbal bullying, unequal opportunities, racist behavior and
injustice. This causes people to feel disowned on their own land just for
being different or having a different point of view. As Audre Lord said,
“It is not our differences that divide us. It is our inability to recognize,
accept, and celebrate those differences.”
Ethnic fractionalization refers to individuals within a country belonging
to various cultures and socio-economic backgrounds. This ethnic
fractionalization can lead to political instability, provincial prejudices and
civil wars. When people in a country have their own distinctive cultures,
histories, languages, and accomplishments, they want to preserve it
and grow it. In such circumstances, if the government pays attention to
some specific group, it can lead to hatred and prejudice towards a
particular group and towards the government of the country as well. It
can make people rebel against their own country and a chaos can
result. This persecution may even lead to civil war which can be
disastrous as it may alter the history of the nation. These anti-nationalist
sentiments can raise in any country having diverse groups of people
and if not tackled properly can be detrimental to the national security.
Diversity in workplace though is beneficial in many ways but if not
managed properly can effect individuals and corporations. People from
diverse backgrounds may not be able to better communicate with their
team their opinions due to language barrier which may result in
misunderstanding. Also, every person has his own way of working
which may be difficult for their teammates to understand. Resultantly, it
can cause individuals to switch jobs which affects company’s profit too
as employing and training new people is both timely and cost effective.
Thus, we discussed both the pros and cons of diversity. The negative
impacts can be best tackled by virtues such as tolerance, empathy and
inclusion. If everyone develops the sentiment of empathy, he/she will
always put themselves in other’s foot and understand their situation.
This will lead to tolerance and subsequently inclusion. When every
person in this world would be aware of their duties, rights of others
would be automatically safeguarded. We should make all group of
people included and government should make policies which includes
and give equal attention to all to prevent regional and sectarian
prejudices. Religious scholars can play a very pivotal role in eliminating
religious prejudices as people look up to them. We should acknowledge
other’s cultures, languages and religious sentiments and should think
beyond that to achieve a much peaceful and better world.