This article reviews recent research on the link between women’s commuting and labor force participation and identifies five key themes in the literature. Women’s shorter work trips have been explained in terms of women’s low wages, the need to coordinate dual roles as mothers and wage earners, and as a reflection of a more even distribution of jobs that traditionally hire women. Short work trips may also reflect spatial entrapment in highly localized labor markets. Finally, shorter work trips may reflect a spatial mismatch between low-income and minority women’s residential locations and entry-level jobs; thus, employment may entail much longer commutes for inner-city residents. This article evaluates research within each theme, identifies future research needs, and explores the implications for current policy debates over welfare reform.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Abramson, Alan J.
, Mitchell S. Tobin, and Matthew R. VanderGoot. 1995. The changing geography of metropolitan opportunity: The segregation of the poor in U.S. metropolitan areas, 1970 to 1990. Housing Policy Debate6, 1: 45-72.
2.
Bianchi, Suzanne
, and Daphne Spain. 1996. Balancing act: Motherhood, marriage and employment among American women. New York: Russell Sage.
3.
Burns, Elizabeth K.
1998. Women’s travel to inner-city employment. In Women’s travel issues: Proceedings from the Second National Conference, October 1996. Office of Highway Information Management, pub. no. FHWA-PL-97-024. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation.
4.
Carlson, Virginia L.
, and Nikolas Theodore. 1997. Employment availability for entry-level workers: An examination of the spatial mismatch hypothesis in Chicago. Urban Geography18, 3: 228-242.
5.
Chapple, Karen
, and Rachel Weinberger. 1998. Is shorter better? An analysis of gender, race, and occupational segmentation in San Francisco Bay Area commuting patterns. In Women’s travel issues: Proceedings from the Second National Conference, October 1996. Office of Highway Information Management, pub. no. FHWA-PL-97-024. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation.
6.
Clark, G. L.
, and J. Whiteman. 1983. Why poor people do not move: Job search behavior and disequilibrium amongst local labor markets. Environment and Planning A15, 1: 85-104.
7.
Cooke, Thomas J.1997. Geographic access to job opportunities and labor-force participation among women and African Americans in the greater Boston metropolitan area. Urban Geography18, 3: 213-227.
8.
Cooke, Thomas J.
. 1996. City-suburb differences in African American male labor market achievement. Professional Geographer48, 4: 458-467.
9.
Cooke, Thomas J.
, and J. Matthew Shumway. 1991. Developing the spatial mismatch hypothesis: Problems of accessibility to employment for low-wage central city labor. Urban Geography12, 4: 310-323.
10.
Dubin, Robin
. 1991. Commuting patterns and firm decentralization. Land Economics67, 1: 15-29.
11.
Ellwood, David T.1986. The spatial mismatch hypothesis: Are there teen-age jobs missing in the ghetto? In The black youth unemployment crisis, Richard B. Freeman and Harry J. Holzer, eds. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
12.
England, Kim V. L.1993. Suburban pink collar ghettos: The spatial entrapment of women. Annals of the Association of American Geographers83, 2: 225-242.
13.
Erickson, Julia A.1977. An analysis of the journey to work for women. Social Problems24, 4: 428-435.
14.
Fagnani, Jeanne
. 1987. Daily commuting time: The stakes for working mothers in France. In Working women and the aging: Impact on travel patterns and transportation systems. Transportation Research Record 1135. Washington, DC: Transportation Research Council.
15.
Galster, George C.1992. Research on discrimination in housing and mortgage markets: Assessment and future directions. Housing Policy Debate3, 2: 639-683.
16.
Goddard, Haynes C.1982. Recent evidence on black employment and metropolitan decentralization. Growth and Change13, 1: 32-39.
17.
Goering, John
, Abdollah Haghighi, Helene Stebbins, and Michael Siewart. 1995. Promoting choice in HUD’s rental assistance programs. Washington, DC: Office of Policy Development and Research, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
18.
Gordon, Peter
, Ajay Kumar, and Harry Richardson. 1989. Gender differences in metropolitan travel behavior. Regional Studies23, 6: 499-510.
19.
Hanson, Susan
, and P. Hanson. 1980. The impact of women’s employment on household travel patterns: A Swedish example. In Women’s travel issues, Sandra Rosenbloom, ed. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
20.
Hanson, Susan
, and Ibipo Johnston. 1985. Gender differences in work-trip length: Explanations and implications. Urban Geography6, 3: 193-219.
21.
Hanson, Susan
, and Geraldine Pratt. 1995. Gender, work, and space. London: Routledge Kegan Paul.
22.
Hanson, Susan
. 1992. Dynamic dependencies: A geographic investigation of local labor markets. Economic Geography68, 4: 373-405.
23.
Harrison, Bennett
. 1974. Discrimination in space: Suburbanization and black unemployment in cities. In Patterns of racial discrimination: Vol. 1. Housing, G. M. von Furstenberg, B. Harrison, and A. Horowitz, eds. Lexington, MA: Lexington Books.
24.
Hayghe, Howard
. 1998. Trends in women’s labor force participation. In Women’s travel issues: Proceedings from the Second National Conference, October 1996. Office of Highway Information Management, pub. no. FHWA-PL-97-024. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation.
25.
Holloway, Steven R.1996. Job accessibility and male teenage employment, 1980-1990: The declining significance of space?Professional Geographer48, 4: 445-458.
26.
Howe, Anna
, and Kevin O’Connor. 1982. Travel to work and labor force participation of men and women in an Australian metropolitan area. Professional Geographer34, 1: 50-64.
27.
Howell, Frank M.
, and Deborah Richey Bronson. 1996. The journey to work and gender inequality in earnings: A cross-validation study for the United States. Sociological Quarterly37, 3: 429-447.
28.
Hughes, Mark Alan
. 1995. A mobility strategy for improving opportunity. Housing Policy Debate6, 1: 271-297.
29.
Hughes, Mark Alan
, and Janice F. Madden. 1991. Residential segregation and the economic status of black workers: New evidence for an old debate. Journal of Urban Economics29, 1: 28-49.
30.
Ihlanfeldt, Keith R.
, and David L. Sjoquist. 1989. The impact of job decentralization on the economic welfare of central city blacks. Journal of Urban Economics26, 1: 110-130.
31.
Jeff, Gloria G.
, and Regina McElroy. 1998. Women’s travel and policy environment. In Women’s travel issues: Proceedings from the Second National Conference, October 1996. Office of Highway Information Management, pub. no. FHWA-PL-97-024. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation.
32.
Johnston-Anumonwo, Ibipo
. 1998. Distance, race, and labor force participation: Implications for women of color. In Women’s travel issues: Proceedings from the Second National Conference, October 1996. Office of Highway Information Management, pub. no. FHWA-PL-97-024. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation.
33.
Johnston-Anumonwo, Ibipo
. 1997. Race, gender, and constrained work trips in Buffalo, NY, 1990. Professional Geographer49, 3: 306-317.
34.
Johnston-Anumonwo, Ibipo
. 1992. The influence of household type on gender differences in work trip distance. Professional Geographer44, 2: 161-169.
35.
Kain, John F.1992. The spatial mismatch hypothesis: Three decades later. Housing Policy Debate3, 2: 371-460.
36.
Kain, John F.
. 1968. Housing segregation, negro employment, and metropolitan decentralization. Quarterly Journal of Economics82, 2: 175-197.
37.
Kasarda, John D.1995. Industrial restructuring and the changing location of jobs. In State of the union: America in the 1990s: Vol. 1. Economic trends, Reynolds Farley, ed. New York: Russell Sage.
38.
Kasarda, John D.
. 1993. Inner-city concentrated poverty and neighborhood distress: 1970 to 1990. Housing Policy Debate4, 3: 253-302.
39.
Lamison-White, Leatha
. 1992. Income, poverty and wealth in the United States: A chart book. Current Population Reports. Consumer Income Series P60-179. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
40.
Leonard, Johnathan S.1987. The interaction of residential segregation and employment discrimination. Journal of Urban Economics22, 3: 323-346.
41.
Lugaila, Terry
. 1992. Households, families and children: A thirty year perspective. Current Population Reports. Series P23-181. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
42.
MacDonald, Heather
, and Alan Peters. 1994a. Rural women in a restructuring economy: Work and commuting in eastern Iowa. Economic Development Quarterly8, 2: 171-185.
43.
MacDonald, Heather
. 1994b. Spatial constraints on rural women workers. Urban Geography15, 8: 720-740.
44.
Madden, Janice F.1981. Why women work closer to home. Urban Studies18, 2: 181-194.
45.
Madden, Janice F.
, and Marion White. 1978. Women’s work trips: An empirical and theoretical overview. In Women’s travel issues: Research needs and priorities, Sandra Rosenbloom, ed. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation.
46.
Massey, Douglas S.
, and Nancy A. Denton. 1993. American apartheid: Segregation and the making of the underclass. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
47.
McLafferty, Sara
, and Valerie Preston. 1997. Gender, race, and the determinants of commuting: New York in 1990. Urban Geography18, 3: 192-212.
48.
McLafferty, Sara
. 1996. Spatial mismatch and employment in a decade of restructuring. Professional Geographer48, 4: 420-431.
49.
McLafferty, Sara
. 1991. Gender, race, and commuting among service sector workers. Professional Geographer43, 1: 1-15.
50.
Mensah, Joseph
. 1995. Journey to work and job search characteristics of the urban poor: A gender analysis of survey data from Edmonton, Alberta. Transportation22: 1-19.
51.
Nelson, Kathryn
. 1986. Labor demand, labor supply and the suburbanization of low-wage office work. In Production, work, territory: The geographical anatomy of industrial capitalism, A. J. Scott and M. Storper, eds. Boston: Allen & Unwin.
52.
Niemeier, Debbie A.
, and June G. Morita. 1996. Duration of trip-making activities by men and women: A survival analysis. Transportation23: 353-371.
53.
O’Regan
, Katherine M., and John M. Quigley. 1998. Cars for the poor. Access12: 20-25.
54.
Peck, Jamie A.1989. Reconceptualizing the local labour market: Space, segmentation and the state. Progress in Human Geography13, 1: 42-61.
55.
Pickup, Laurie
. 1984. Women’s gender-role and its influence on travel behaviour. Built Environment10, 1: 61-68.
56.
Popkin, Susan J.
, James E. Rosenbaum, and Patricia M. Meaden. 1993. Labor market experiences of low-income black women in middle-class suburbs: Evidence from a survey of Gautreaux program participants. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management12, 3: 556-573.
57.
Rosenbloom, Sandra
. 1995. Travel by women. In Demographic special reports. 1990 NPTS report series. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
58.
Rosenbloom, Sandra
. 1987. The impact of growing children on their parents’ travel behavior: A comparative analysis. In Working women and the aging: Impact on travel patterns and transportation systems. Transportation Research Record 1135. Washington, DC: Transportation Research Council.
59.
Rutherford, Brent
, and Gerda R. Wekerle. 1988. Captive rider, captive labor: Spatial constraints on women’s employment. Urban Geography9, 2: 116-137.
60.
Sarmiento, Sharon
. 1998. Household, gender and travel. In Women’s travel issues: Proceedings from the Second National Conference, October 1996. Office of Highway Information Management, pub. no. FHWA-PL-97-024. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation.
61.
Sassen, Saskia
. 1991. The global city. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
62.
Simpson, Wayne
. 1987. Workplace location, residential location, and urban commuting. Urban Studies24, 2: 119-128.
63.
Singell, Larry D.
, and Jane H. Lilleydahl. 1986. An empirical analysis of the commute to work patterns of males and females in two-earner households. Urban Studies23, 2: 119-129.
64.
Taylor, Brian D.
, and Paul M. Ong. 1995. Spatial mismatch or automobile mismatch? An examination of race, residence and commuting in U.S. metropolitan areas. Urban Studies32, 9: 1453-1473.
65.
Turner, Tracy
, and Debbie Niemeier. 1997. Travel to work and household responsibility: New evidence. Transportation24: 397-419.
66.
U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)
, Bureau of Transportation Statistics. 1998. Welfare reform and access to jobs in Boston. Report no. BTS98-A-02. Prepared by Annalynn Lacombe. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
67.
Wyly, Elvin K.1996. Race, gender, and spatial segmentation in the Twin Cities. Professional Geographer48, 4: 431-444.
