Calgary ranks a dismal 23 out of 25 in best places to be a woman in Canada

Oct 14 2016, 11:25 am

We’ve come a long way baby – but not far enough. A recent gender equality study has found that Calgary is the 23rd best place to be a woman in Canada out of 25 cities.

The study was carried out by Kate McInturff with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of Women.

Modelled on methods used by the World Economic Forum and the UN, it aimed to capture the gap between men’s and women’s quality of life, in a wide range of areas.

In Calgary, McInturff found, women are more likely than men to have finished high school, college or university, with 28% of women holding degrees. Women in Calgary are among the most educated of the 25 cities.

The disparity comes with the number of women represented in government, where women hold only two of the 15 elected seats on Calgary’s city council.

Calgary comes second to last among the 25 cities when it comes to promoting women into senior management, with women holding only 29% of these positions.

To add to the above, fewer women are working than men, with 66% of women holding jobs, compared to 75% of men and yes, it’s not just your imagination, there is a wage gap, with women earning only 65% of what men earn working full-time.

 

Victoria is no. 1 for women

But gender paradise it seems isn’t far away – Victoria came top out of all 25 cities surveyed across Canada.

McInturff says the biggest difference is that Victoria is one of the few cities to have a female mayor, Lisa Helps. As well, there are more women than men on the council.

Overall, the gap in the proportion of men and women working in Victoria is the smallest in Canada, but it’s not all perfect.

Even in Victoria, women in full-time work earn only 71% of what men earn on average.

And the worst place to be a woman in Canada? Windsor, Ontario, where women only hold a quarter of elected positions and only 31% of senior management roles.

Women in Windsor also have the lowest employment rate of any of the 25 cities surveyed, at 53%, and even when they do have a job, they only earn 74% of what men earn.

Windsor also has the highest proportion of women living in poverty, at 24%, and are the least likely to say they are in good health, with only 52% feeling fit.

“Canada has made gains in creating opportunities for women and girls to thrive in our communities. But there is still work to do,” says McInturff in a release.

“The statistics compiled here are the beginning of the conversation, not the end.”

See also

Canada’s gender equality rankings

Source: The Best and Worst Places to be a Woman in Canada 2016

  1. Victoria
  2. Kingston
  3. London
  4. Québec
  5. Gatineau
  6. Montréal
  7. Sherbrooke
  8. St. John’s
  9. Vancouver
  10. Halifax
  11. Toronto
  12. Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo
  13. Hamilton
  14. Ottawa
  15. Abbotsford-Mission
  16. Barrie
  17. Kelowna
  18. Regina
  19. St. Catharines-Niagara
  20. Winnipeg
  21. Saskatoon
  22. Edmonton
  23. Calgary
  24. Oshawa
  25. Windsor
Daily Hive StaffDaily Hive Staff

+ News
ADVERTISEMENT