The 32-per-cent female and 68-per-cent male GTA election results represent a more gender-equal distribution than Canadians' participation in Parliament, which is 24-per-cent female and 76-per-cent male.
From 1992 to 2000, Canada was ranked as the best country in the world to live in by the United Nations Human Development Report. This year Canada slipped to the 8th position. Canadians' relatively low percentage of women in Parliament (compared to 36 per cent in Norway, 38 per cent in Denmark and 45 per cent in Sweden) is listed as a major factor in our reduced status.
Greater equity combined with equal opportunities for women and men to contribute to and benefit from politics, economics and culture, leads to a better quality of life overall.