Douglas Todd: Bringing over patriarchal attitudes. Inequalities: Immigrants to Canada sometimes import social problems regarding gender, economist says
Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai has become the poster teenager for international women’s equality.
Shot in the head by a Muslim extremist for advocating greater educational opportunities for females, a Western media campaign arose to nominate Yousafzai for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
The Pakistani teenager’s autobiography, I Am Malala, has catapulted her into a global symbol against female oppression. People in the West hope her suffering will improve conditions for women in Pakistan and throughout other developing nations.
It’s no accident the outrage against Yousafzai occurred in Pakistan. The Global Gender Gap Index ranked Pakistan a dismal 132nd out of 135 countries for the way it treats females. Neighbouring India doesn’t do much better.
It’s worth exploring what Yousafzai’s plight might suggest about gender conditions for those seemingly far removed from Pakistan and India — the women of North America.
In this era of mass migration, one of five residents of Canada is now born outside the country, mostly in Asia. The ratio of foreign-born residents rises to almost one in two in Toronto and Metro Vancouver.
Source: Vancouver Sun, November 8, 2013 by D. Todd. Read full article.
Tags: canada, immigrants, inequality, religion, women rights
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