Best cities for Canadian women: 2016

The best city for Canadian women is Victoria, British Columbia, for the second year in a row. This according to a study by the Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Iglika Ivanova, a senior economist with the Centre, says Victoria, is the place with the smallest gender wage gaps and employment wage gaps for women. It is also the place where women are very well represented in municipal government and in the senior management of businesses and other institutiions.

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The city is the capital of British Columbia located at the southern tip of Vancouver Island. As Ivanova noted, capital cities across Canada tend to be better places for women with the economic benefits that working in the public sector can provide.

“Women in Windsor are a lot more likely than men to be living in poverty.”

The study covered five areas of life and how men and women fare in them: economic security, including gender wage gaps, and gaps in employment; access to education; access to healthcare, access to positions of power in both politics and in senior management, and personal security including experiences of violence and sexual assault.

The biggest gaps the researchers discovered were in the very areas that Victoria excelled in, economic security and access to positions in senior management and political power.

The 25 metropolitan areas studied comprise 67 per cent of Canada’s population. Ivanova says they can’t say why Victoria comes out on top, but the hope is that the results will promote a conversation between leaders in other cities across Canada, as to how they might raise their standing.

Montreal and three other Quebec cities were among the top 10 according to the study. Ivanova says the provincial child-care assistance, which includes extended parental leave, and parental leave for fathers. unique in Canada. The more family-friendly work environments make it easier for women to be involved in their communities and their work.

In Windsor, Ontario, the results revealed that women in this city bordering Detroit City in the United States experience the biggest gaps in employment rates and access to power. “Women in Windsor are a lot more likely than men to be living in poverty.” said Ivanova.

Overall, Ivanonva says there were some small improvements, in the area of access to political power and women’s representation in particular, but in general she said it is a story of stagnation.

This is of particular concern in the area of personal security. Ivanova says the rate of sexual assault in Canada has not been decreasing, while the rate of other violent crime is declining.

“We have not invested in violence prevention measures in Canada and we also don’t support women, victims of violence very well. If you look at funding for shelters or transition houses for women escaping violent reletionships. you’re seeing a lot of frozen budgets and not enough support there,” she says.

Iglika Ivanova cites the example of two mayors; Edmonton’s Don Iveson, who championed the “Make it Awkward” social media campaign against racism. She suggests it could be expanded to include sexism, particularly as we witness the American election campaign with all the shocking revelations and the conversations already underway.

And secondly, London, England’s mayor, Sadiq Khan, another example of positive action. He recently conducted a gender pay audit and found a wage gap. “So I think it would be interesting to see Canada’s largest municipalities do gender wage gap studies of their own employees and see whether they are doing everything they can to have pay equity as well as to promote women to positions of senior leadership.” Ivanova says.