The Status of Men vs Women

In Canada, children are the most important, then pets, then women and finally men.

I have heard this kind of comment many times over the years and of course, I don't believe it's true and in my opinion, it shouldn't be that way.

I think what people (usually men) mean when they say this is that women in Canada have more power than men because in many countries women have much less power than men. I think that men take time to get used to the fact that women have power in this country and don't have to do whatever their fathers, brothers and husbands tell them.

It's true that in Canada men and women are equal in the eyes of the law.  I think that that isn't true in every country but I'm not an expert in law around the world. In some countries it's OK for a man to hit his wife especially if she does something wrong. 

 In contrast that kind of behavior is not acceptable under Canadian law and most Canadians do not find that kind of behavior appropriate in Canada.  But physical abuse still happens in Canada.  The victims are women, children, seniors, disabled people and sometimes even men.  The victim usually has less power then the person responsible for the act.

There were many related issues brought up in my class when we discussed the above statement.  Most students were shocked to think that pets are more important than chilren or men.  The majority of my students feel that men and women should be treated equally and that children are very important because they need a lot of help from their parents to grow up.

Have women reached equality with men in Canada?  Unfortunately, I don't believe we have.
For example, look at the statistics for the new Cabinet in the Canadian Government.
Still, with 12 out of 39 members of the female persuasion, the female-male ratio on the new cabinet bests the Conservative party’s own standing in the House (29-167); and the ratio in Parliament as a whole (76-308), even if it’s well below the near 50-50 makeup of the Canadian population

The above paragraph says:

Canadian population	50% women and 50% men
Parliament	76 women out of 308 seats
Conservative party	29 women out of 167 seats
Conservative Cabinet	12 women out of 39 members of Cabinet

This is just one example.  I have a couple of others. I have noticed that my husband gets better service in banks and stores than I do  when he wears a jacket, tie and dress pants because he seems more powerful.
Feel free to comment on this.