“Report shows glaring lack of female voices on Canadian city councils”
The Globe and Mail (June 11, 2015)
A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives ranked the country’s 25 largest cities based on their female-friendliness. The report looked at factors such as economic security and education. But the political statistics were perhaps the most telling of the balance of power: Where are the female voices on the country’s city councils?
St John’s, for example, has no women on council. In Hamilton, women make up only 20 per cent of elected officials. Victoria – which, incidentally, took first place in the rankings – is the only city where female city councilors outnumber their male peers.
In a country fueled by the economies of its cities, a shortage of female politicians – and a lack of overall diversity – on city councils is troubling, especially considering the influence of municipal policy in residents’ lives, and the key decisions councils make about fiscal priorities, including child care and affordable housing. It’s not as if there aren’t plenty of qualified candidates: Across the country, urban-dwelling Canadian women have more education than men.
Cities with male-dominated sectors, such as tech or oil and gas, fell at the bottom of the rankings because of gaps in employment and pay. Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo took last place, with Edmonton and Calgary following closely behind at the bottom of the pack. In Alberta, for instance, the report points out that men hold 88 per cent of the construction jobs, and 76 per cent of oil and gas jobs.
Edmonton has had among the highest wages in the country, but also one of the biggest gender gaps; there, full-time female workers earn $16,000 less than men.
At the same time, the report applauded some grassroots movements to level out the urban gender playing field, including Edmonton food servers who protested being asked to wear miniskirts on the job, and a group in Quebec City that helps hearing-impaired women get access to perinatal care.
When it comes to senior city managers, the gender gap is smaller – in the top cities, women make up more than one-third of senior managers. Still, the municipal buck stops at council.