Gender, mobility and parental shares of daily travel with and for children: a cross-national time use comparison

Abstract

Daily mobility varies by gender and is likely related to contextual factors including the gender division of employment and family work, options for modes of transport, and support for work-family reconciliation. This paper compares travel time patterns of men and women using nationally representative time-diary data from Australia, the UK, Spain and Finland (n = 14,176). Despite similarities in men and women's total travel time within countries, results show substantial gender variation in the purpose of daily travel, the transport mode used, who is present, and the way parents in couple-headed households share travel with and for children in relative terms. The extent of the gender gaps vary cross-nationally in ways consistent with prevalent patterns in the gendered division of labour and social parenting norms, but relative gaps in child-serving travel were universal, attesting to the ubiquity of gendered mobility constraints in households with children.