Canada's Score On Women's Equality Just Dropped (But We're Still Beating The US)

After Canada's most recent federal election, a new record was set for the number of female MPs being sent to the House of Commons. Still, even with these historical gains, women's equality in Canada took a hit according to the 2019 Women, Peace, and Security Index. 

The annual index, released by Georgetown University's Institute for Women, Peace and Security and Oslo's Peace Research Institute, ranked Canada at 11th in the world in terms of women's equality. It's not a bad place to land, but it does mean that Canada dropped four spots from its seventh-place rank in 2018.

Canada fell just behind the Netherlands on the ranking, and landed one spot above Estonia. The top three countries in terms of women's equality are Norway, Switzerland, and Finland. The U.S. came in 19th this year.

The index ranks countries based on a number of factors, including education, financial inclusion, and representation in government. With the current number of elected female MPs in the House of Commons, women represent about 29 percent of Canada's federal government.

"We had a record number of women candidates running in this election, which we hoped would have translated into a higher number of women elected," Equal Voice executive director Eleanor Fast said in a media release.

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According to the Index report, women hold roughly one quarter of parliamentary seats worldwide, and the country with the highest number of women in government is Rwanda (where women account for 56 percent of government).

Canada's employment rate for women above age 25 sits at 57.4 percent, which, despite Canada's eleventh-place ranking, is not actually the worst employment rate in the top 12 countries (that would be Finland, with only 51.6 percent).

Canada is still a great country to live in for both men and women, but of course, there are always ways to improve. With any luck, the number of women in Parliament will continue to increase with each election.

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