Gender Equality and Kate McInturff

Kate McInturff: But the gender gap varies widely across the country. To find out what makes a city female-friendly, Kate McInturff , a senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives created a gender equality index and applied it to Canadas 20 largest urban centres. It took into account income, education, health-care, safety and political influence. She summarized her findings in a just-released study entitled The Best and Worst Place to be a Woman in Canada , according to The Star. Even for womens activists, her 58-page analysis contained a few surprises: The nations biggest cities Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver fell in the middle of the pack despite having specialized services for women, extensive non-profit networks and leading roles in the womens movement. St, Johns Nfld ranked third, well ahead of affluent cities such as Calgary 17th and Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge 16th . Cities in which women held the majority of city council seats Waterloo and Victoria were the two prime examples didnt appear to confer any benefit on their female residents. The pay gap between women and men in senior management was smallest in Regina, not normally seen as a mecca of gender parity and Women and men experience urban life differently. Women are twice as likely to hold part-time jobs; three times as likely to work for the minimum wage and eight times as likely to be victims of domestic violence. They earn 76 cents for every dollar men earn. They are under-represented in all levels of government. Quebec City topped the rankings. Edmonton placed last. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.