Report gives Calgary low ranking on gender equality

A gap in employment levels, a lack of women in leadership and management and a significant difference in income levels contribute to the city’s poor ranking in a new report studying the gender gap in Canada.

And while advocates say efforts to close that gap are working, they acknowledge Calgary — and Canada as a whole — still has a way to go.

Victoria sits atop the list of 25 Canadian cities ranked in the study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and research shows a large gap remains between the sexes among five areas examined: economic security, education, health, leadership and personal security. Calgary ranked 23rd. The centre, 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.

In Calgary, the difference in employment levels between men and women is one of the largest of the cities studied. Seventy- five per cent of men hold jobs compared to 66 per cent of women. Men also fare better with income — women earn 65 per cent of what their male counterparts make.

“Currently, men and women are in a way segregated by occupation to some extent,” said Iglika Ivanova, a senior economist and public interest researcher with the centre.

Ivanova pointed to the fact men are more than twice as likely as women to complete apprenticeships and trades training.

“If we’re boosting industries that are primarily male- dominated, we should maybe think about boosting other industries that are femaledominated,” she said. “Those need a bit of attention as well.”

Federal Labour Minister Kellie Leitch, who is also minister for the status of women, said women should be given the tools and opportunities to go into trades as well as secure jobs in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“Every woman in this room has an opportunity to have a skilled professional trade,” she said Wednesday at the Calgary Immigrant Women’s Association after announcing a $ 216,848 grant over three years for the organization to study how to help immigrant women in the city’s food industry with child care, training and mentoring.

“We know that here in the Alberta economy, those are good paying jobs,” she said, adding local initiatives can go a long way to encouraging women to enter these fields.

The report ranked Calgary 19th in leadership, with women occupying just 29 per cent of senior management positions and only two women on city council.

“I found the report sad, but not surprising,” Coun. Druh Farrell said. “What I found during the last election … was the few women that put their names forward. It was the lowest that I can remember.”

Farrell said the “negative tone” of politics can deter women from leadership roles and that must be supported and encouraged by the community.

She noted that until the most recent provincial election, Alberta was the only province without a minister responsible for the status of women.