Vote for less equality

Unionists come in all shapes and sizes, and two genders.

This blog has already pointed out how unionists actively promote the inclusion of the north-east of Ireland in a political entity that is poorer, less developed and less free than the rest of the country. But today another report was published which shows how unionist women are turkeys voting for Christmas.

The 2009 Global Gender Gap Report, published by the World Economic Forum, puts the south at number 8 worldwide in terms of gender equality, after the usual Scandinavian suspects and, perhaps surprisingly, South Africa.

The Global Gender Gap Index, introduced by the World Economic Forum in 2006, is a framework for capturing the magnitude and scope of gender-based disparities and tracking their progress. The Index benchmarks national gender gaps on economic, political, education- and healthbased criteria, and provides country rankings that allow for effective comparisons across regions and income groups, and over time. The rankings are designed to create greater awareness among a global audience of the challenges posed by gender gaps and the opportunities created by reducing them. The straightforward methodology and quantitative analysis behind the rankings are intended to serve as a base for designing effective measures for reducing gender gaps.

Where, a rational person might ask, does the UK stand in the list? Number 15, that's where - a drop of two places since last year. Below Lesotho and the Philippines, and barely better than Sri Lanka!

And yet unionists claim that their support for the north remaining in the UK is based upon rational criteria. Since on freedom of the press, per capita wealth, health and happiness - and now gender equality - the UK scores below the south, one must question the real motivation of unionism. If unionism was a rational philosophy, then its adherents would clearly question their allegience. That they don't tells us clearly that their allegience is irrational.

The south has shown, and continues to show, that it provides a better standard and quality of life for its inhabitants than the UK - to which unionists insist on shackling the north. Unionist bigotry and irrationality are diminishing the quality of life for almost one third of the Irish people, for reasons that they have never fully explained. It is high time for unionists to actually make their case, or to admit that their insistence on remaining in the UK is based on prejudice alone.