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Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge have been identified as the least safe places for women, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
The report looked at 26 metro areas across Canada and found that when it comes to personal safety, these three cities in Waterloo region ranked at the bottom.
“The rates of sexual assault and intimate partner violence reported to the police in Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge (KWC) were among the highest among large cities while the rate of criminal harassment targeting women was the highest,” said the report, released Tuesday.
“Overall, KWC placed 26th – or last – as a safe place for women to live in Canada.”
The study also showed that this area came in 20th out of 26 cities for its rate of intimate partner violence, with a figure of 452.9 per 100,000 people.
Back in 2017, just over 1,300 people experienced violence from a spouse, common-law partner or dating partner; women made up about 77.1 per cent of those victims.
Low scores on health, education and economic stability
The research covered 26 metro regions and ranked them based on economic security, education, health, leadership and safety. Kingston, Ont., took first place while Barrie, Ont., came in last overall.
Kitchener, Waterloo and Cambridge were ranked 17th overall.
This region also had one of its lowest marks in health (26th), along with lower ranks for education (22nd) and economic security (20th).
On average women live about 83.7 years here – slightly less than the national average.
“There has been a big jump in the proportion of men reporting very good or excellent health, surpassing the proportion of women in this group over the 2012 to 2016 period,” the report notes. “The gender gap, in turn, has widened considerably.”
In terms of education levels, women tend to have university degrees more often than men here but generally both genders have similar education backgrounds overall.
The number of graduates in science, tech, engineering and math (STEM) fields is strong around here but “the gender gap is relatively large.” The report says about one-third of male grads studied STEM subjects compared to only one-eighth of female grads.
Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge scored quite well on leadership – coming third – mainly because almost half (47 per cent) of elected officials are women.
“That’s ‘the closest to gender parity and highest level among large cities,’ ” according to the report.>
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