Study: Victoria best city to be a woman in Canada, Waterloo Region ranks 12th

A new study ranks Victoria as the best city to be a woman in Canada, while Windsor rated last of the country’s 25 largest cities.

The study, by senior researcher Kate McInturff of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, looks at the gaps in men and women’s access to economic security, personal security, education, health, and positions of leadership.

The report says the biggest factor in Victoria’s top ranking is the number of women in politics.

The city has a female mayor and is the only city in the study to have more women than men on its council.

Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge was near the bottom of the last list, but has since moved up to the middle of the pack to 12th – due in large part to gains women made in winning local elections and increasing their share of senior management jobs.

The study says Windsor placed last due to its large gap in female leadership and the fact that Windsor has the highest gap in the percentage of women living in poverty, compared to men.

Canada’s largest cities fall in the middle of the rankings, with Montreal sixth, Vancouver ninth and Toronto 11th.

Here is the complete list of cities and where they ranked:

1. Victoria
2. Kingston, Ont.
3. London, Ont.
4. Quebec City
5. Gatineau, Que.
6. Montreal
7. Sherbrooke, Que.
8. St. John’s, NL
9. Vancouver
10. Halifax
11. Toronto
12. Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo, Ont.
13. Hamilton
14. Ottawa
15. Abbotsford-Mission, B.C.
16. Barrie, Ont.
17. Kelowna, B.C.
18. Regina, Sask.
19. St. Catharines-Niagara, Ont.
20. Winnipeg
21. Saskatoon
22. Edmonton
23. Calgary
24. Oshawa, Ont.
25. Windsor, Ont.