Gender gaps in urban mobility

Abstract Mobile phone data have been extensively used to study urban mobility. However, studies based on gender-disaggregated large-scale data are still lacking, limiting our understanding of gendered aspects of urban mobility and our ability to design policies for gender equality. Here we study urban mobility from a gendered perspective, combining commercial and open datasets for the city of Santiago, Chile. We analyze call detail records for a large cohort of anonymized mobile phone users and reveal a gender gap in mobility: women visit fewer unique locations than men, and distribute their time less equally among such locations. Mapping this mobility gap over administrative divisions, we observe that a wider gap is associated with lower income and lack of public and private transportation options. Our results uncover a complex interplay between gendered mobility patterns, socio-economic factors and urban affordances, calling for further research and providing insights for policymakers and urban planners

Relationships between urban form and mobility: gender and mode of transport

With the growth of urban areas, cities are the centres of the great challenges of our society. Urban form influences the metabolism of cities in multiple ways and mobility is one of them. Depending on the type of urban fabric, population, and activities located in them, travel needs and modes of transport differences appear. As population is diverse, this relationship between urban form and mobility probably have significant gender gaps that should be investigated. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the correlation between the type of urban fabric and people’s mobility patterns, looking for significant gender differences in the number of trips and the mode of transport. Data were collected from the survey done for the Mobility Plan of the Metropolitan Area of Valencia and cadastral information. For statistical analysis, the PSPP program and Pearson's correlation coefficient were used. This paper demonstrates significant differences in relation to gender and modes of transport. Women use more sustainable modes of transport, especially in dense and compact cities. Urban sprawl increases mobility, especially trips using private motorised modes. On the contrary, more sustainable modes, like by foot, on bike, or using public transport, are used in compact cities. Looking for sustainable mobility, women and density are key aspects which land planners must take into account when designing cities

Cities Under Lockdown: Mobility and Access Inequalities Stemming from COVID-19 in Urban Colombia

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on cities have transformed the lives of urban societies across the globe. One of such effects has been the redefinition of access and urban mobility patterns, exposing divides and inequalities along the lines of class, gender and social positions. In Latin America, long-term lockdowns and widespread containment-oriented restrictions have deepened already acute conditions of poverty and deprivation. Low-income and socially vulnerable households and individuals in countries such as Colombia find themselves unable, or in a disadvantaged position, to work from home, access goods and services securely and avoid transport modes that increase exposure to contagion. This chapter examines inequalities in urban mobility and access to essential opportunities in urban settings in Colombia, through data collected from 3,900 respondents to a web survey organised during the national lockdown in the country in April 2020. The chapter presents a Latent Class Analysis model exploring how intersecting differences in class, gender, ethnicity, age and other relevant socioeconomic characteristics, influence the degree of adaptability and capacity to adapt to the challenging conditions posed by COVID-19 for physical travel and carrying out everyday activities. Building on three distinct classes of mobility and access-related conditions, the chapter reflects on structural inequalities associated with Colombian cities’ urban form, functional and productive structures and its wide social gaps. The chapter builds on empirical findings to reflect on urban policy and discuss avenues for addressing social and spatial inequalities worsened by the pandemic

Assessing gender gaps in employment and earnings in Africa: The case of Eswatini

Abstract: Persistent gender gaps characterise labour markets in many African countries. Utilising Eswatini’s first three labour market surveys (conducted in 2007, 2010, and 2013), this paper provides first systematic evidence on the country’s gender gaps in employment and earnings. We find that women have notably lower employment rates and earnings than men, even though the global financial crisis had a less negative impact on women than it had on men. Both unadjusted and unexplained gender earnings gaps are higher in self-employment than in wage employment. Tertiary education and urban location account for a large part of the gender earnings gap and mitigate high female propensity to self-employment. Our findings suggest that policies supporting female higher education and rural-urban mobility could reduce persistent inequalities in Eswatini’s labour market outcomes as well as in other middle-income countries in southern Africa

Downward Mobility From the Middle Class: Waking Up From the American Dream

Examines trends in Americans falling out of the middle class, ranking 20 or more percentiles below their parents, or earning 20 percent or more below their parents' real income, and contributing factors across race/ethnicity and gender

Social Mobility in Latin America: Links with Adolescent Schooling

This paper proposes a new measure of social mobility. It is based on schooling gap regressions and uses the Fields decomposition to determine the importance of family background in explaining teenagers schooling gaps.

Gender and Occupational Mobility in Urban China during the Economic Transition

This paper examines the gender patterns of occupational mobility in post-reform Urban China using a national representative dataset. The results reveal marked differences between married men and women: women are more likely than men to undergo lateral or downward occupational changes, but are less likely to experience upward mobility. The results also show that the public-sector restructuring has increased the incidence of downward occupational mobility, more for women than men. The analysis suggests that women are disadvantaged in the occupational mobility process by a variety of social and institutional factors.Occupational mobility, Gender, Economic transition, Social networks

Unequal prospects: disparities in the quantity and quality of labour supply in sub-Saharan Africa

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