[URBAN NOTE] "For women, life is better in Victoria, Gatineau, Quebec City, Montreal, new study says

[rfmcdonald]

The CBC carried a Canadian Press report suggesting that, owing at least in part to a greater role for more transparent and gender-balanced government, certain cities are better for women than others.

A new study says life is better for women who live in cities such as Victoria, Gatineau, Que., and Montreal compared with Edmonton, Calgary and Ontario's Waterloo Region.

Victoria sits atop a list of 25 Canadian cities that are ranked in a study done by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, and the research says a strong gap remains between the sexes among five areas examined: economic security, education, health, leadership and personal security.

The CCPA, which describes itself as a non-partisan research institute concerned with social, economic and environmental justice issues, titled the study "The Best and Worst Places to be a Woman in Canada 2015: The Gender Gap in Canada's 25 Biggest Cities."

"This was a way to draw attention to the gender gap," said study author Kate McInturff, who based her research on Statistics Canada survey data.

[. . .]

McInturff said cities in Quebec fare better on average than cities in other provinces — which she attributes to policies that help women, such as cheap and accessible daycare that allows more women to re-enter the workforce after childbirth, thereby leading to a higher employment rate for women.