The relationship between women's household responsibilities and commute lengths: A study on women in the United States and Great Britain

The research on the effects of household responsibilities on commute lengths so far is not conclusive. Further, little has been done to test the hypothesis cross-culturally. This study is an international comparative analysis of the relationship of household responsibilities and women's commute lengths. I hypothesize that (1) Household responsibilities shorten women's commute lengths both with respect to men and other women with lower amount of household responsibilities, and, (2) Women in US have a tighter household responsibility-commute length relationship than women in GB. Using 1995 US Nationwide Personal Transportation Survey (NPTS) data from the United States, and 1995/97 NTS data from Great Britain, I approximate household responsibilities with a composite life stage variable consisting of age, presence of children, and number of adults in a household. I present descriptive results and results on estimated models which test for both independent and interaction effects of gender and country on work trip distance and time, and presents results of estimated equations for pooled, women-only, and separate regressions for US and GB, controlling for land use indicators, number of workers and household income. I find little variation among-women, and more variation between men and women according to life stage. I find that household responsibilities affect women's commute lengths differently than men. The household responsibility-commute length relationship is strongest for mothers of school-aged children in 2-adult households. I also find some differences between the countries which point that, as expected, the relationship between household relationship and commute lengths are weaker in GB. I conclude that since Great Britain has a number of mediating factors such as mode (GB women use car in journey to work at a lower rate compared to GB men, and women with higher household responsibilities switch to car), and more attractive option for part time working for women with household responsibility which makes the direct relationship between household responsibilities and commute lengths weaker in Great Britain.