Work-related travel, gender and family obligations

Abstract

This article uses national travel surveys from Sweden to examine the relationship between family situation, sex and work-related overnight travel. The results indicate that family obligations have an impact on travel activity, but that women and men differ in this respect. Cohabiting men travel more than men living alone, whereas there is no such effect among women. Having young children reduces the travel activity of women, whereas there is no consistent such effect among men. However, regardless of family situation, men travel considerably more than women and this largely reflects women’s and men’s different positions in working life. It is therefore argued that the relationship between work-related travel and family obligations involves both individual adaptation and structural factors, such as a gender-segregated labour market and ‘gender-typing’ of travel as a predominantly male activity, all of which reflect traditional gender and family role expectations.