Europe
The European website
www.stop-discrimination.info has produced a range of factsheets on the
issues of diversity. The factsheet on
Managing Diversity – What’s in it for
Business? Offers the following definition of what we mean by
diversity.
“As well as ensuring that people from different groups do not suffer
discrimination, recognising diversity means understanding how people’s
differences and similarities can be mobilised for the benefit of the
individual, the organisation and society as a whole. Managing our diversity by
ensuring fairness and equality is becoming not just ‘a good thing’, but
imperative in a changing and complex world.”
In Northern Ireland the following definition of diversity was coined by the
Diversity Matters project led by Disability Action. This
definition is also used by the
Diversity Works project and
states, “Diversity is about individual and group relationships. It is not only
the acknowledgement and appreciation of what is different in people but the
value placed on this difference.”
In the
Republic of Ireland, Diversity refers to the
differences between individuals. People differ on all kinds of aspects, both
visible and non-visible. Examples of differences are gender, age, sexual
preferences, skills, tenure, learning styles etc. We find these differences in
every workplace, though not all differences are always recognised or seen as
relevant.
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