Comments on: High on emotion

By: Peter Muscat

Peter Muscat — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 16:32:37 +0000

@ Moderator .. Lol You got it so wrong once again.

Taking everything at face value does not help to comprehend the real substance. If you try harder I am convinced you’ll understand my point of view.

Moderator please stop calling names whoever expresses an opinion that might be different from yours.Have you ever realised that others may be right and you might be wrong.
Political facts are there and whatever you or your likes try, be assured you won’t change anything.

Quoting half truths to give a different picture that is far away from reality and to twist facts is in itself a disservice. Futhermore it is shameful, puerile and pathetic.

[Moderator – I still can’t understand what you are trying to say.]

By: Albert Farrugia

Albert Farrugia — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 13:11:59 +0000

Well I mentioned three fundamental steps on the road towards bridging the gender gap, taken by a Maltese political party whose history is so rubbished today. The MLP was not afraid to upset the applecart in those to undertake important social reforms. The PN, composed as it is of a motley group of peopke who range from abortionists to fundamental christians, No “moderate” party at all. That is why today I believe that the MLP has to capture back the fire of those days. And not be some cushy-cushy nice-to-all party some are suggesting. Oh and dont forget George Abela on Youtube…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olkQW_lschE&feature=related

By: Albert Farrugia

Albert Farrugia — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 12:20:04 +0000

Did I mention Daphne? Do I, or anyone, care how Daphne and her ancestors voted or to whom? I am just mentioning some history. To show which party has stood for women’s emancipation in Malta as long ago as 1947…by the way…that was POST irredentist days. I think its not me who is getting upset.
And what is this about mentioning how someone’s family voted? As if I can add to my laurels how my family voted or did not vote 60 years ago!

[Moderator – No – I pointed that out because you seem to think that the people who run this blog are only capable of thinking as part of the tribe, and are ready to fight for it on all fronts, when it is clearly not the case. The way things are now is that there is not a single party in Malta that has progressive policy on the gender gap in our society. And you’ll find it is worst in the people you least expect it. I once sat in a gender studies lecture listening to Joanna Drake defend the indefensible, that the gender gap in Maltese political culture doesn’t exist, and Helena Dalli argued the same point in a recent debate at University. And don’t even get me started on Harry Vassallo, whose wife earns all the family’s income while he potters about at home.]

By: Albert Farrugia

Albert Farrugia — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:42:32 +0000

….all this bla bla bla about women’s empowernment…In any case, Moderator, you complain about a 100/35 ratio between men and women in government service. Don`t you know why? Its because up till a certain year, women were required to resign on marriage. Not because it was a social norm, but because it was the RULE. And guess in which year women were allowed to remain in government service even after marriage? Horror of horrors..it was in the despicable 70s. And guess when women were BY LAW given equal pay for equal work? Yes, it was in the horrible 70s. And guess who, when even our nanniet were young, suggested to the National Assembly that women should vote. Horror oh my horror! It was the hamalli Lejburisti. If you want to know who opposed them at the time , take a look at a floortile….

[Moderator – Stop getting so upset, you sound like a fool. If I were around when the Nationalist Party were opposing universal suffrage, I would have most definitely not voted for them. And Daphne has already made the point that her family didn’t vote for the Nationalist Party in its Italian irredentist days.]

By: DF

DF — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:29:20 +0000

Wrong again Moderator. Maltese women are extremely hardworking (like their male counterparts) in areas which they choose to be hardworking in: making more cash, getting jobs well done (often better than the lads), taking care of the kids and the husband and that kind of thing. But they appear to be completely unarsed about things which women elsewhere consider important. But I don’t want to exclude the possibility that they’re actually happy with the situation and prefer it that way. Fair enough.

Daphne’s point is also largely true I think. No divorce, get an annulment. No abortion, hop on the catamaran. A nation of pragmatists as I like to say.

[Moderator – Would you be happy to have never worked, to have to ask your spouse for pin-money? The Kalkara market on a Sunday is full of women asking their husbands for permission to spend 5c on a pair of plastic earings. Can you imagine yourself in that position, and would you be happy?]

By: Albert Farrugia

Albert Farrugia — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 10:03:45 +0000

ufff…why dont we talk about George Abela, like we used to talk to a few days ago before his chances started increasing? Uff, I’m bored…

By: Peter Muscat

Peter Muscat — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 08:01:22 +0000

@ Moderator .. Calling me naive and cryptic does not belittle anything I said in my earlier messages.I do not need to spoonfeed anyone because I believe no one needs any extra intelligence or any extra effort to comprehend my message.

Gender Equality is not only an issue but worse still the way it has been tackled these last 10 years needs much to be desired.

The legislation passed by the last administration on this issue, even in naming the legislation in question,fell in same trap as those before.

It is not a question of figures or logistics, It is a question of ‘a strong will’, which I am sorry to say it isn’t there yet.

Capish moderator?

Uuppps … How I hate spoonfeeding.

[Moderator – Peter, see what I mean about being cryptic? I agree that Maltese political culture actively discourages the empowerment of women.]

By: Peter Muscat

Peter Muscat — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:38:39 +0000

Moderator is incorrect in ‘blowing’ what the the PN did in pushing women’s cause.

Moderator should digg very well when jumping to such biased conclusions.I am very well aware to whom this site belongs but still I do expect such silly ‘adverts’.

Moderator should know that in last adminsitration, a new legislation was passed through parliament to promote gender equality. Is moderator aware of the fact that in naming the mentioned legislation Minister Doleres was herself discrimnatory against the fair sex.

I wonder how our dear Daphne was/is not aware of this fact.
Still waiting for Daphne’s lashes about the matter.

[Moderator – Peter, I can’t understand your point. Are you criticising me for supporting the government’s policy on widening the gender gap, or are you accusing me of being too critical of it? the government can pass whatever legislation it likes, whether it does so out of conviction or not will determine the outcome. The fact remains that for every 100 men employed by the government, there are only 35 women.]

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:33:20 +0000

@DF – only one thing, and one thing only, will raise the pressure on the abortion issue in Malta: depriving Maltese women of access to abortion clinics next door. Because there is no way that will happen, or can happen, Maltese women will stay silent. They will stay silent because opinion leaders generally come from educationally privileged backgrounds, and educationally privileged people are able to work the system because they have the income and the ability to do so. A pregnant 17-year-old factory worker is never going to be voicing any opinions, even though she has no access to abortion in the way more privileged Maltese women do. Maltese women are silent for many reasons, but mainly because, where abortion is concerned, they are well-served. The ones who can speak out and don’t have all the access to abortion that they could want or possibly need. It’s the ones at the bottom of the heap, as in all other areas of life, who suffer.

By: Daphne Caruana Galizia

Daphne Caruana Galizia — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 20:27:18 +0000

@Sisi – when I was at university, married women (and men, for that matter) were entitled to stipends and got them. I didn’t, because I worked (if you worked in those days, however little you earned, you forfeited the right to a stipend). Then at a certain point, it was decided that married persons (not women) and postgraduate students would no longer be entitled to stipends. If I remember correctly, it was the fact of marriage, and not the age cut-off point of 30 which led to loss of entitlement. Perhaps it has changed since then? I remember thinking how odd it was that stipends were given to teenagers so that they wouldn’t have to be dependent on their parents, but married women had to be dependent on their husbands, and ask them for money to buy books. Incidentally, I remember a few married men there, who were supported by their wives.