OTTAWA—A new study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) reveals the best and worst cities to be a woman in Canada. According to the study, Québec City is the best city to be a woman and Edmonton is the worst.
The study, by Kate McInturff, a Senior Researcher at the CCPA, ranks Canada’s 20 largest metropolitan areas based on a comparison of how men and women are faring in five areas: economic security, leadership, health, personal security, and education.
Gender equality
TORONTO – The pay gap between men and women in Ontario is getting worse and will continue to do so without government involvement, says a Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) report released to recognize Ontario’s first officially declared Equal Pay Day April 16.
Last year, the Ontario Equal Pay Coalition, in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives' Ontario office, began tracking two key trends in its 2013 report, 10 Ways to Close Ontario's Gender Pay Gap:
(1) the pay gap between men and women in Ontario and,
(2) the date in the calendar year that demarcates how much longer women have to work to earn the amount that men earn in a year. This year's report examines whether there has been any change in the pay gap and denotes a troubling development.
The poster publicizing David Suzuki's 1985 television series A Planet for the Taking stated:
"We have long thought of ourselves as masters of the natural world, but now that drive to dominate and control is having dangerous consequences. Can we change the way we see our relationship with the other life forms on Earth?"
Now wait a minute. Does that description really apply to all of us? I suspect that most women, at least, find it hard to imagine ourselves as "masters" of very much, let alone masters of the natural world that we are all part of.
A recovery strategy that aims to put Ontario back where it was in 2007 means no progress for women. Women had lower levels of employment and higher levels of poverty before, during and after the recession.
Young women were among the biggest losers during the recession - experiencing nearly double the rate of decline in their employment as young men.
At the other end of the spectrum, the numbers of women who stayed in the workforce after age 65 doubled betwen 2007-2013.
It’s easier to think that violence is something that happens to someone else—in a different country, a different community, a different home. But the truth is that every day, everywhere, women are raped, beaten and killed just because they are women.
Women like Loretta Saunders, an Inuk student at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. A young woman who was committed to understanding why aboriginal women and girls continue to experience violence on a scale far beyond the rest of Canada’s population. A young woman whose body was found at the side of a New Brunswick highway last week.
This edition of Work Life forms part of the research by CCPA’s National Office for an upcoming report, "Working across Canada" which will analyze quantitative and qualitative data to determine where workers are more likely to have decent jobs and be protected by adequate employment and labour standards.
Hennessy’s Index is a monthly listing of numbers, written by the CCPA's Trish Hennessy, about Canada and its place in the world. For other months, visit: http://policyalternatives.ca/index
Ottawa – Quatre-vingt-six pourcent (86%) des familles Canadiennes ne bénéficieront en rien du fractionnement du revenu que le gouvernement fédéral entend mettre en place selon une étude publiée aujourd’hui par le Centre canadien de politiques alternatives (CCPA).