Culture And Diversity

Culture is characteristic of a group of people that is defined by the people’s language, food, music, arts, language, religion and social habits. It therefore refers to cumulative knowledge, beliefs, values, experience hierarchies, roles, spatial relations, material objects and concepts of the universe that are acquired by a group of people occurring in generations and passed through people in a group. This is basically the way of life of a group of people that are passed on from a generation to the next by communication. This is a symbolic way of communication due to its components such as values, motives attitudes and so on (Zimmermann, 2012).Cultural diversity refers to the existence of diversity or difference in cultures rather than monoculture. It can also sometimes used to refer to variety of human societies or the cultures that are in existent in a particular region or the entire world. The basis of cultural diversity is that cultural identities ought not to be ignored or done away with rather they should be maintained and valued. Every culture contributes to the country in its own way .cultural diversity has been the contributing factor to social, economic as well as the cultural values found in societies.

The public sector is a part of the state that focuses on producing, owning, selling, providing, or the ultimate allocating of gods and services by the government or citizens on a local, regional or national level. The public sector forms part of the economy that has its main concern in provision of basic services. In most countries the public sector includes services like public roads, military, the police, education and healthcare .some of this services are aimed for the poor who cannot afford private services like education and healthcare. The public sector also provides services that a non-payer can not exclude themselves from Like Street lighting, and services that are beneficial to the entire society and not just an individual. Gender is physical, behavioral, and mental characteristics that are used to form distinction between femininity and masculinity. The term gender is used when referring to roles that have been socially constructed, activities or behaviors that are considered appropriate for women or men in a particular society.

All this are aspects of the society and are connected in one way or another. Culture and cultural diversity for instance clearly intersect. Culture does not just intersect with diversity it actually is a determining factor of diversity. Without culture then there would not be any diversity that exists. The existence of many cultures such as the western culture, Eastern culture, African culture, and Asian culture .all these cultures provide a platform for the existence of diversity. Culture forms a strong part of the lives’ of people. Their views, values, loyalties, worries and fears are also under the influence of culture and therefore the existence of cultural diversity is important aspect of the society. People should therefore understand the existence of cultural diversity so that they conflict and live in harmony with each other (Zimmermann, 2012).

Gender and culture intersect in a variety of ways. There are various cultural beliefs that are target specific genders. All cultures do not agree on the issue of the roles given to men and women hence leading to oversimplified cultural concepts that concerning gender within the different cultures. Some cultures position men on a higher rank as compared to women. Therefore culture brings about gender disparities in some cultures and thus the existence of gender inequality in such societies. There are some jobs that are considered only appropriate for men in some cultures. This cultural aspect deters women from venturing into such jobs even when an opportunity is provided to them. The place of women in some cultures is staying at home and caring for the family while men are taken to be the financial providers and bread winners in these same cultures. The existence of cultural diversity therefore paves way for the people to get enlightened and thus leave behind some of their cultural beliefs that bring gender inequality in the society. Therefore cultural diversity and understanding the different enables people to live together in harmony without factoring in gender issues once they understand the diversity culture brings. There should be creation of a culture in the society that views women and men equally which will lead the reduction of gender inequality in the society.

A culture of ethics has to be created in the public sector. It is therefore mandatory for the public sector to apply ethics when it comes to their service provision. Adaptation of values that are based on codes of ethics should be of key importance in the public sector. There should be no room for unethical practices by the public sector if its culture is based on ethics. These include service provision that is up to standard. Some cultures believe that the public sector is obliged to provide some services and hence they take it as their right to get these services from the public sector. Cultural diversity in the public sector gives room for the inclusion of the ethical culture.

All this aspects intersect with each other in one way or another but culture forms the basis of all the other s. without culture then it would be difficult to express this aspects as culture provides a way through which they can be viewed. Therefore culture, cultural diversity, gender and the public sector intertwine with culture at its centre.

References

Zimmermann, K.M. (2012).What is Culture? Definition of culture. Retrieved March 12, 2013 from http://www.livescience.com/21478-what-is-culture-definition-of-culture.html