Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (June 10/02) - If population numbers were a scorecard for the battle of the sexes, males would be leading in the North.

That's because there are more men than women in the NWT, Nunavut and the Yukon.

And that population breakdown is unlike anywhere else in Canada, except for Alberta.

According to 2001 population figures from Statistics Canada, the national population make-up is 49.5 per cent male and 50.5 per cent female (a number largely influenced by the fact females live longer on average).

Yet, there were 21,078 males residents of the NWT in 2001, compared to 19,782 female residents. Put another way, that is 51.6 per cent male and 48.4 per cent female.

However, Nunavut has the highest percentage of males in Canada -- 52 per cent compared to 48 per cent female.

In the Yukon, males outnumber females 51.3 per cent to 48.7 per cent, and in Alberta the figures are 50.5 per cent male and 49.5 per cent female.

David Stewart, the territorial statistician with the GNWT's Bureau of Statistics, explains the NWT's gender balance is a product of in-migration, which sees more men moving North to work in the mining and oil and gas industries.

"I think that would be the main factor," says Stewart, who adds that men also tend to have higher mobility than wom-en.

As for what possible effects the ratios may have on the North, Stewart notes, for example, that men have more incidents of crime and alcohol abuse.

"Whether our sex ratio explains higher rates in the North, I would doubt," he says, although he adds there may be some influence.

Barbara Saunders, the executive director of the Status of Women Council of the NWT, agrees in-migration of male workers is the major factor in the population percentages.

Saunders says it is hard to say scientifically if the higher proportion of males contributes to the NWT's high rates of such problems as sexual assault and sexually transmitted diseases.

"It poses a question, I suppose," she says.

Saunders suggests the numbers may affect the status of women in other ways.

"There is certainly a concern by the lack of women in management and leadership roles."

And she says the proportion of men versus women does not make it any easier for women to participate in politics.

While the two MPs representing the NWT and Nunavut are women, Saunders notes there are more men in upper government , including an all-male NWT cabinet.