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Wednesday, June 08, 2005

Sunshine and Feminism

I know this article is just more anti-feminist rhetoric, but I can't help but pick on Redstate.org. At least this time Carey Roberts tries to rant using references, unlike the last time we played together. Note that these are written text rather than links. How much you want to bet that redstate.org readers don't bother to copy and paste?

Whining about how the population is doomed because women control reproduction, Roberts claims:

The situation is especially acute in Germany, where the population is projected to decline from the current level of 82 million to 70.8 million persons by 2050. The fertility fall-off stems from a disintegration of family relationships - 83% of Germans say their main reason for not having children is their inability to find a partner or stable relationship. [http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/germanypopulationeconomy]

Ah, yes, but according to that same article, France's population might increase from 60.2 million to 75 million by 2050. Ladies and Gents, meet my good friend Carey "Pick and Choose" Roberts. The article also says that many women choose not to have children because they would rather focus on their careers. What's wrong with that? Women should be made to have children whether they like it or not?!

So blithely ignoring its impending demographic time-bomb, the German Ministry of Education and Research has announced a new gender mainstreaming program designed to entice even more women out of the home and into the workforce. [www.bmbf.de/en/474.php]

Entice? There is still a choice here. Women aren't being forced to forsake family life.

Advocates of gender mainstreaming claim they are merely trying to promote equal rights for the sexes. But in practice, this grand-sounding concept doesn't quite work out that way.

For example, men in Austria live 76 years, while women enjoy a full 82 years of life. But that six-year disparity in life expectancy didn't stop the government from establishing the Bundesministerium fur Gesundheit und Frauen - Ministry for Health and Women. [www.bmgf.gv.at]

Women are so pampered...living 6 years longer than men on average...selfish "little daddies' girls". I'm so glad Roberts gave a reference for the translated page because we all...no wait we don't all speak German. Sure Google will translate it, but how much you want to bet Redstate readers don't take the extra step? Besides, translating the page yields wonderfully informative statements like "Smoke Kallat main header in its speech the outstanding pregnancy support in Austria out and called the low infant mortality consequence of the nut/mother child passport as internationally exemplary." No kidding.

In Norway it was announced that women compose only 11% of members of corporate boards of directors, those bastions of male power and privilege. So minister Laila Daavoey recently decreed that henceforth all companies would be obliged to meet a 40% female board quota - or else face closure. [www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,12770128%255E1702,0 0.html]

Once those companies shut down, I'm sure the E.U. will be more than happy to subsidize the checks for all those unemployed workers, male and female.

Because we all know that women can't run a business and inviting more women to a board is tantamount to a corporate death sentence. Isn't that what capitalism is all about anyway? The companies that can't cut it will fade and make way for companies that can?

For examples of why the our species is doomed:

One of the more colorful Swedish politicos is one Gudrun Schyman, an alcoholic who got caught not paying her taxes and was forced to resign as a leader of the Left Party, the former Communist Party of Sweden. Schyman apparently forgot that in socialist societies, paying taxes is more inevitable than death.
...
Early last month a group of Stockholm women put the Feminist Initiative message to the test. One night they showed up at a local strip club wielding baseball bats and umbrellas. Police ended up arresting 16 women after the melee. [www.thelocal.se/article.php?ID=1393&date=20050508]

Sure, Schyman may have problems and some women may be prone to violence. We aren't saying women are beyond flaw or somehow superhuman. (Insert snarky Redstate comment here.) But women comprise at least 50% of the population. Is it remotely possible to imagine that an economy and government can function with the same composition?

-Becky @ 1:59 AM