Tuesday 27 October 2009

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.

43 comments:

Anonymous said...

The woman's right to choose mustn't be very high up on their weightings :)

Nordie Northsider said...

I like the change in tack in recent blogs - away from demography towards highlighting the advantages of Irish unity. It's something many talk about, but it's not often we see tangible examples such as this. Cogent, heartening arguments for unity. More power to your keypad.

Watcher said...

Hilarious stuff as always horseshit. Coming from a country that used women as baby machines for years and where you couldn't even get contraceptives not so long agoe...

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Anonymous said...

You could turn the argument on its head. Isn't Ireland better off without the north? Let the U.K. be stuck with this albatross. Plus Ireland doesn't have to deal with a large and hostile Protestant community. To what extent would the inclusion of such a group have retarded Ireland's development since the 1920's? Would Ireland have become another Lebanon?

Pedro said...

By definition 'Ireland' is not 'Ireland' without the 'north'.
However this relatively intelligent and articulate expression of partitionism makes a refreshing change.

hoboroad said...

I see Bertie Ahern has come out in support of Scottish Independence. He has written a letter to Mr Salmond giving him his support.

hoboroad said...

Good news for the Nationalists of County Antrim it looks like Mark Harbinson could be going to prison for a while.

Nordie Northsider said...

And good news for the Nationalists (and entire citizenry of Coleraine): Torrens Knight is back where he belongs.

hoboroad said...

Do Special Branch get back the £50,000 they paid into Mr Torrens Knight bank account?

SocialistIreland said...

There seems to be an overriding interest in the British state's involvement in the activities of grass roots Unionist groupings. The reality is that the party that has gained most financially from the British state is Sinn Fein(P). Not only have individual party members become wealthy through Sinn Fein's abandonment of the liberation struggle, but Sinn Fein itself has prospered through the exploitation of London money. This has been the inevitable outcome for a party reliant on sectarianism for it's success and ignorant of the most basic tenants of democratic socialism.

hoboroad said...

What like David Ervine recieving media training from MI5?

bangordub said...

Haha,
Nice one Hoboroad.........

hoboroad said...

You can understand why he needed that training as well. He came across as a very angry bitter little man in those early interviews he did. Maybe MI5 can arrange some anger management training for Jim Allister!

SocialistIreland said...

I met David on a number of occasions and had the greatest respect for him. He was a man of real integrity and decency who was not afraid to confront sectarianism wherever he found it whether as a young man with a gun combating green fascism, or later when trying to break down sectarianism in his own community. Above all else, he was a socialist and the right type of socialist at that.

hoboroad said...

I don't he was a member of a group of Thugs and Morons. A true Socialist some of his best friends are millionaires. And the Shankill Butchers were not Social Workers they were cut throat killers.

Anonymous said...

SosialistIreland= andy,watcher, etc

hoboroad said...

I suppose Sinn Fein should print there own money like the Workers Party. I read that with there US 100 Dollar bills it is very hard to tell the difference from the real thing.

hoboroad said...

Oh I could but Horseman would ban me from this site. He is quite right of course libel courts can be very expensive.

hoboroad said...

I suppose murdering Catholics is ok if you are a socialist but making money is beyond the pale. Great set of values you have got there.

SocialistIreland said...

It was the class system itself that created the Provisional IRA that led to an inevitable reaction from other workers struggling under the same oppressive yolk. Establishment figures in the south used young Catholics in the north to divert attention from the overriding problems facing ordinary workers in the south. It was classic bourgeois adventurism and has been practiced in Ireland since partition and is still being preached through this site. It would be interesting to know who exactly the sites backers are, although I have a fair idea.

hoboroad said...

Yeah and North Korea is heaven on earth for it's people. The USSR was a Workers Paradise and the KGB killed people only with it's kindness. Should you not be out picketing a post office or something?

hoboroad said...

Do tell me how the UVF bombing of Dublin and Monaghan in May 1974 helped bring about socialist Nirvana?

SocialistIreland said...

That event, like so many others, was the result of a divided working class, not the cause.

In any case, a cynic would say that it brought to an end bourgeois revanchism in the north, or at least severely curtailed it.

Anonymous said...

"bourgeois revanchism"

Get a life, nerd and grow up.

Anonymous said...

> The woman's right to choose mustn't be very high up on their weightings :)

Exercise of "abortion rights" is associated with extremes of inequality.

As it happens, there's not a lot of difference on this issue between NI and the ROI.

Anonymous said...

The ROI don't allow women the right to choose. The comparison with the UK therefore shows that this league table does not weigh this right highly. The table is therefore questionable.

hoboroad said...

The 1967 Abortion Bill does not apply in the North.

hoboroad said...

How many Unionist MP's are pro-choice? A lot of Unionist's seem to want abortion on demand in the Republic of Ireland but do not vote for it in Northern Ireland.

Anonymous said...

Is abortion illegal in N.I.? What about Eire?

hoboroad said...

Is abortion murder? Ian Paisley thinks so and every member of his party as well that's 9 MP's or 90 percent of Unionist opinion in Northern Ireland.

Anonymous said...

Horseman wrote: 'If unionism was a rational philosophy, then its adherents would clearly question their allegience [sic]. That they don't tells us clearly that their allegience [sic] is irrational.'

This would read better if the following were written: 'If unionism were a rational philosophy then its adherents would clearly question their allegiance. That they do not tells us clearly that their allegiance is irrational.' Notice that I have omitted a comma in the first sentence as it is unnecessary as it is followed by 'then', a conjunction, and lessens the force of the sentence; as well, I did not abbreviate 'do not' in the second sentence as a contraction, too, lessens the sentence's force. You should also note that 'were' is better than 'was' with the conditional 'if'. English Composition is definitely an area in which data ought to be collected among OECD-member countries and those countries rated and compared. Now that would make interesting reading.

Likewise, English Spelling should surely be one of the subjects in which the OECD collects data and rates and compares its member countries. 'Allegiance' has been misspelt in Horseman's brief discursive treatment of 'The Three 'R's' and on the ROI and UK's relative OECD ratings in the specified subjects of basic education.

Get a good dictionary, Horseman, and use it!

Anonymous said...

The comparison is on womens position between the UK as a whole and Eire, so the restriction on the womans right to choose in Eire is highly relevant.

IrishSocialist said...

The south is in no position to preach to anyone as regards the rights of women (particularly working class women). Not only does it ban abortion, forcing Irish women to go to The UK for help, but for years it also banned contraception, leading to a life of pregnancy and servitude for Irish women. It also banned divorce, which meant in practice that Irish women were trapped in hopeless marriages, often being subjected to brutal beatings and marital rape by their drunken and abusive husbands. All of this at the bequest of The Catholic Church.

And at a deeper level, Irish women's sexuality was badly effected due to the input of The Catholic Church with frigidity and inability to orgasm being (and remaining?) widespread throughout Ireland.

hoboroad said...

Is the Queen of England frigid? Must be a reason for Prince Phillip fucking around all those times behind her back.

Anonymous said...

IrishSocialist=SocialistIreland=watcher=andy=headbanger=bigot

Anonymous said...

"And at a deeper level, Irish women's sexuality was badly effected due to the input of The Catholic Church with frigidity and inability to orgasm being (and remaining?) widespread throughout Ireland."

What a statement, Andy!

Please back it up with the published relevant expert data.

But I expect this will be the usual anti-Irish and anti-Catholic rubbish from the usual sexually repressed bigot hiding behind one of his many manufactured identities.

Open your mind and move on.

MPG .....

SocialistIreland said...

MPG said:

"But I expect this will be the usual anti-Irish and anti-Catholic rubbish from the usual sexually repressed bigot hiding behind one of his many manufactured identities."

Anti-Irish? No, what I am is pro-working class and by that I mean the oppressed wherever they may be found. I have more in common with a shankill bin man than with some effete estate agent tosser in Dublin.

I find it interesting that you jump to the defence of The Catholic church MPG - starting to show your true colours, you blue shirt thug.

Anonymous said...

Andy, again!

Not very nice. Then again, its what we have come to expect.

Was it the comment about sexual repression which hurt most or the fact that you are a bigot?

MPG ......

Anonymous said...

For those who haven't guessed MPG is Andy..

Anonymous said...

Last time I looked in the mirror,I was not.

MPG .....

Anonymous said...

I'm only me!

Who are youse?

Unknown said...

"blue shirt thug" ppl making comments like this in 2009, genuinely need to stop sniffing the ole glue.

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