Why they are experiencing long-time commuting: A gendered analysis across occupational, family, and spatial dimensions

Abstract

The growing job-residence imbalance has led to an increasing concern about long-time commuting. Existing studies have made great efforts to explain the influencing mechanism, but a perspective based on the gender difference has not been fully explored before. Moreover, research on causality in long-time commuting has been limited. This study aims to address these gaps by using 2019 Household Travel Survey data from Shanghai, combined with census and land use data at the sub-district level. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) and causal model are used to explore gender differences in long-time commuting behavior, as well as the causal effects of individual occupations, family stages, and spatial types on these differences. Our results confirm that gender differences in long-time commuting are significant at individual, family, and spatial levels. The analysis indicates that high-income white-collar workers have a positive causal effect on the choice of long-time commuting among commuters, although this effect is smaller for women. The impact of different family life cycles on long-time commuting among women varies significantly, with the formation and expansion stages showing negative impacts, and stabilizing into a positive impact during the stability stage. The findings at the spatial level further indicate that women's disadvantaged position in urban spatial competition may increase their likelihood of engaging in long-time commuting to obtain appropriate employment opportunities. These findings demonstrate the gender differences in long-time commuting across different levels, highlighting the importance of inclusive and comprehensive job-housing balance policies for promoting gender equality and reducing long-time commuting.