In the wake of a startling year for women's rights around the world, there is a feeling that we have a lot to be proud of as Canadians. We have a prime minister who calls himself a feminist -- a word previously taboo even among women's groups -- we have a gender-balanced federal cabinet where women hold some of the highest positions of power in the country, and the appointment of new Canadian senators who are some of the leading feminist advocates in the country.

So, are we there? Have we achieved equality for women in Canada? The answer, unsurprisingly, is not yet.

When people die of disease, they are said to have died from natural causes. When they recover, the doctor gets the credit of curing them.
-- George Bernard Shaw.

This may be an apocryphal tale, but a city in ancient China is purported to have had a public health-care system that was the reverse of ours. Physicians were paid a monthly fee for each of their patients as long as the patients remained in good health. When a patient became ill, the fee was suspended.

In that genuine health-care system, the doctor's main incentive was to keep patients well. So the emphasis was on scheduling frequent visits and tests; monitoring nutrition, exercise and other essential factors; and promoting the healthiest possible lifestyle.

Like this article? rabble is reader-supported journalism. Chip in to keep stories like these coming.

As a law student at Canada Without Poverty I have been watching human rights violations unfold in British Columbia over the Super InTent City case. After years of experiencing human rights only in the classroom, I have been full of emotions over the past eight months as I watched over 100 people who are homeless forced to fight for their community and basic rights.