Evolution of human in embracing differences

Human beings are different from each other on number of aspects such as gender, race, religion, color, caste, sexual orientation, wealth they possess and the language they speak. 

Over the last century there has been substantial change in the thought process of the human beings in embracing the differences amongst ourselves. While there is a change in thought process, there are differences created to divide people which cannot be overlooked. Nevertheless the evolution of the human mind in embracing the differences has been a remarkable journey and is heading in the right direction.  

Some of the thought processes around natural differences and how they have changed over a period of time is analyzed below.

Let us consider the first example of Gender differences. For centuries women all over the world have not been treated on par with men. The King has always been the head of the empire, there has been very less number of queen known to have ruled an empire. The number of renowned female scientists, nobel winners, leaders in the fields of politics, business have always been substantially lesser than that of the male. Even in one of the oldest democratic nation, the United States of America, women got equal rights to vote only in 1920. It took nearly 140 years for amending the constitution in the USA to grant women the right to vote. In Saudi Arabia, women got voting rights in local election only in 2015.

All these point to one direction that women have not been treated on par with men over a period of time. However does it mean that men were actually cruel all these time? It has more to do with the fact that the thought of considering women as equal was not so prevalent for thousands of years. The thinking is now getting changed definitely. There is more focus on education of the girl child in the developing nations, idea of feminism being appreciated, focus on women empowerment in the corporate space. These are incremental steps taken over the period that helps to bridge the existing gap.

The distinction of people and differential treatment provided to individuals based on their color was prevalent till recently. The Apartheid legislation, which discriminated people based on color in South Africa got repealed just 27 years back. The USA got its first African American president in the last decade. 

The treatment met to non straight people has been totally unfair till recently. Some of the developed nations have got laws passed to grant them rights and some countries including India has overturned the previous law of criminalization of homosexuality. While most of the countries have a long way to go in strengthening laws for protection and recognition of the rights of the community, there is at least recognition that different people have different identities and it needs to be respected no matter how different they are.

However in one hand there is evolution of embracing the natural differences while on the other hand there are artificial differences that are being created in the name of religion and caste. The rise of ISIS(Islamic state of Iraq and Syria) in this decade shows the extent to which wars are fought on the name of religion. There is no difference close to home as well, never ending kashmir issue, dividing the community for the sake of getting votes, ever fanatic intention of building temple in a disputed land are unacceptable practices which are creating divide in the humanity.

Incremental steps have been taken over the period of time to recognize the differences, but the real question is whether they are sufficient and whether there are any other differences getting introduced in the society. This is just the beginning of the thought process and it will take years to see complete equality. The journey is slow, but at least it is going in the right direction and each step will bring us closer to the destination.