How Women Fare in Canadian Cities

The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives this month released “The Best and Worst Places to Be a Woman in Canada: The Gender Gap in Canada’s 25 Biggest Cities.” The study looks at the gender gap in the largest 25 metropolitan areas in the country, comparing how each ranks in economic security, leadership, health, personal security and education.

“It is intended to provide an annual measure of the gaps that exist between men and women in communities across Canada and serve as a reminder that, with the right choices and policies, these gaps can be closed,” states the report.

And yes, there exists a gap, guys. Women employed full-time make 20% less than their colleagues doing the same job at the same companies, including women with university degrees, in spite of the fact that there are more women in our universities than men. Aboriginal women, racial minorities and immigrant women make even less. Men outnumber women two to one among senior managers and three to one among elected officials, according to the study. We all have it good here, no question, but the study focuses on the gaps between men and women rather than our overall levels of well-being.

Victoria topped the list, helped along by a large public sector employer, which tend to narrow the wage gap and promote women into senior management. Gatineau women see the smallest wage gap, earning $0.87 on the male dollar. (Imagine that being a reason for pride — none of the cities lacked a gap altogether.) Public sector employers are highly unionized and have strict wage-setting processes in place, as well as a high degree of transparency. It’s a lot easier to get away with things we do in the dark.

Not surprisingly, at the other end of the spectrum are cities that lean on predominantly male industries, such as Calgary, Edmonton and Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, which swept the last three spots. With construction and mining, and oil and gas the two biggest sectors in Alberta, and men holding 88% of jobs in the former and 76% in the latter, “there are fewer jobs available in female-dominated sectors like education and health care in the province.” While there are some initiatives in place to train women for jobs in those sectors, the employment of women in mining and construction has barely changed in the past 10 years.

Waterloo Region...the worst place for a woman to live in Canada - "Conestoga Parkway K-W" by Haljackey - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Political representation is low in every region, which for me is actually more alarming than the wage gap. Among city councillors, only Victoria has more women than men, and St. John’s has no women on city council at all. Victoria was still first, with 45% of their elected officials women, when all regional municipalities in the CMA were counted; Hamilton was worst, with only 20%.

The gap isn’t always leaning in one direction: women are more highly educated in every area except trades, with Ottawa boasting the most female grads, and women in Oshawa most likely to have completed a college degree. The biggest share of female tradespeople was in Sherbrooke, although still a paltry 13% had completed an apprenticeship.

Where is Toronto? Twelve overall; as well as falling behind several cities in other provinces, in Ontario, we trailed London (6th), Barrie (8th), Oshawa (10th) and Ottawa (11th). We ranked 9th in economic security, 21st in education, 21st in health, 10th in leadership and 9th in security.

Our employment rates are in line with the national average, with a 67% employment rate for men and 59% for women. The median wage gap is also average, with women earning 77% of what men do, although the gap narrows to 84% of the average male income when looking at only full-time workers. Toronto has one of the highest poverty rates of all the cities studied, with a larger than average gap; 16% of men and 18% of women live below the low income measure. Women comprise a third of our elected officials, and slightly more (36%) of our senior managers. The rates of sexual assault and intimate partner violence reported to police in Toronto was lower than the national average.

Not bad, Toronto, but we can do better.

There’s no question that Canadian women have less to struggle against — and towards — than a vast number of their peers in the rest of the world. Their civil liberties and rights as equals are protected by law, at the very least. I hope the day soon comes when we can stop doing studies like this, when we acknowledge our differences but also our inherent equality, and “humanism” is the only movement we need.

Feature image: "Victoria, British Columbia Skyline at Twilight" by Brandon Godfrey - originally posted to Flickr as Victoria, British Columbia Skyline at Twilight (HDR series)Uploaded using F2ComButton. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons