The best place to be a woman in Canada is Quebec City, while the worst place is Edmonton, according to a new study released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. 

The study ranked the country's 20 largest cities based on their gender gap, by comparing how men and women fare in the areas of economic security, leadership, health, personal security, and education.

"Canada has made great progress in ensuring that men and women have equal access to health care and education, but that hasn’t translated into personal safety at home or promotion at work," study author Kate McInturff said in a statement released Wednesday.

According to the study, women fare better in Quebec cities, with Quebec City, Montreal and Sherbrooke making it into the top 10, while Alberta fared the worst, with Calgary and Edmonton falling in the bottom four.

So why did Quebec City take the top spot? According to McInturff, women in the city earn 78 per cent of what men earn, which is significantly higher than the national average of 66 per cent. Quebec City also scores high in the area of women’s leadership.

"Quebec City council is one of the few out of the top twenty cities that comes close to gender parity -- with 10 women and 12 men," McInturff writes in the report.

In contrast, Edmonton has the highest gap in access to full-time employment, with 68 per cent of men holding full-times jobs, compared to 48 per cent of women. As a result, women earn only 60 per cent of male wages.

The city was also ranked in second last place in the area of women’s political representation, with only one woman in elected municipal office.

Other key findings of the report:

  • Income is highest for women in Ottawa-Gatineau
  • Levels of poverty for women are lowest in Calgary 
  • Life expectancy is highest for women in Vancouver
  • Women in Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo experience the highest levels of stress

But according to McInturff, "a closer look at the local picture demonstrates that the gaps can be closed."

"Canadian communities have much to learn from one another," she says. "Federal and provincial governments also have much to learn from the local picture -- about which policies are working and what strategies can be scaled up so that every community in Canada can lay equal claim to being the best place in Canada to be a woman."

Wondering how your city fared? Here's the complete list of the best and worst cities to be a woman in Canada:

  1. Quebec City
  2. Saskatoon
  3. St. John’s
  4. Montreal
  5. Victoria
  6. Toronto
  7. Ottawa-Gatineau
  8. Sherbrooke
  9. Halifax
  10. Hamilton
  11. Regina
  12. Winnipeg
  13. Vancouver
  14. St. Catharines
  15. London
  16. Kitchener-Cambridge-Waterloo
  17. Calgary
  18. Windsor
  19. Oshawa
  20. Edmonton