29/06/2020
Why do men and women travel differently?
Despite their more similar roles at work and home men and women continue to have different travel behavior. Historically employed men have spent more time traveling to work and less time on household and family support trips than women. While this difference is well-documented, explanations for the difference vary widely: some theories say it’s due to biologically driven differences in gender, while others attribute it to socially constructed gender roles or to gendered structural contexts such as labor market and economic inequality
Gender is one of the key socio-demographic variables that can influence travel behaviour, but it is often the least understood. Understanding travel behaviour by gender will help better design transport policies that are efficient and equitable. Due to the gendered division of work in households, women often have multiple tasks and activities. As a result, women are more likely to have shorter commute distances, to chain trips, to have more non-work related trips, to travel at offpeak hours, and to choose more flexible modes. This study examines travel behaviour by gender in eight different cities, across three different continents, focusing on transport mode, trip purpose, travel distance and departure time for Auckland, Dublin, Hanoi, Helsinki, Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Lisbon and Manila. The most common trends found in the cities are that women tend to travel shorter distances and prefer public transport and taxi services to cars more than men
While much research has examined these theories, few studies have tested their validity based on evidence—which prompted U of M researchers to examine the theories more deeply. “We believe a greater understanding of the underlying reasons for these enduring travel differences is necessary to effectively address the gender equity issue in transportation policy,” says Yingling Fan, assistant professor in the U’s Humphrey School of Public Affairs.
First, they tested the theory that travel behavior differences were based on biologically driven gender differences. “If this theory was true, travel differences between men and women could be applied across all population groups regardless of family structure, but this was not the case,” Fan explains. “We found that single female workers and single male workers exhibit no significant difference in travel behavior.”
Next, the team studied the impact of gendered structural contexts, such as women’s greater presence in pink-collar occupations and significantly lower earnings. The team found moderate support for this theory. “These factors are associated with shorter work travel time among some—but not all—family structures,” Fan says.
Researchers did find strong support, however, for the theory that socially constructed gender roles explain travel behavior differences. “We discovered that while marriage alone doesn’t differentiate travel behavior between men and women, parenthood does have a significant impact,” Fan says. “Interestingly, we found that even being the sole breadwinner does not insulate mothers from socially constructed gender roles—female breadwinners in married single-worker households with children have shorter work commutes and more household support travel than male breadwinners in the same family structure.”
According to the researchers, these findings have important implications. First, policies to minimize auto travel (for environmental purposes, for example) may be unfair to women who wish to reach more job possibilities through longer commutes. In addition, the findings highlight the importance of incorporating parenthood as a prime variable in understanding the gender and mobility connection.
Finally, this research provides insights on how future growth or decline in specific family structures may shape travel demand. “As childless households continue to grow in relation to households with children, it’s possible that fewer female workers will be confined by short work commutes and may choose to spend more time commuting to more desirable jobs, placing new demands on the transportation system,” Fan says.
More over, life cycle travel patterns of outbound Australian travelers according to both gender and the purpose of travel. It finds that gender is a major influence on travel demand. Life cycle travel patterns for men and women vary considerably according to the purpose of travel. All age-related travel functions were unimodal (one mode or peak), except for travel for holiday purposes, which had two peaks. It was found that men tended to travel more often than women for business and work-related travel, but women traveled more often for leisure purposes, including travel to visit friends and relatives. Gender differences in the peak age for travel only existed in business and work-related travel, with travel for women tending to peak earlier than travel for men. Therefore, the purpose of travel and gender are important factors that need to be considered when predicting the long-term demand for travel.
The research was funded in part by a Minnesota Population Center Program Development Grant.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/43441515_Gender_and_Differences_in_Travel_Life_Cycles
https://www.itf-oecd.org/sites/default/files/docs/urban-travel-behaviour-gender
https://www.iranpeacetravel.com/en/blog/post/2760/men-and-women-travel
France ... Links: https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/sites/default/files/Plaquette%2044%20to… Date Update: Thursday, ...
