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In the 1990s, many women commuted shorter distances and less time than men, and research underscored the pernicious effects of racial and ethnic segregation and access to transportation on minority women's commuting. Since then, growing income inequality and the bifurcation of employment between well-paid and secure jobs and a growing number of insecure and poorly paid jobs have been accompanied by the concentration of jobs at central and suburban locations and the transformation of women's roles in the labor market. We investigate some of the geographical implications of these trends by analyzing commuting in the New York metropolitan region. In 2010, gender and race differences in commuting varied across the metropolitan area. Regression analysis demonstrates that the impacts of wages and household composition on commuting differ between the highly valued center that has benefited from private and public investment, the suburbs where traditional gender roles persist, and the deteriorating inner ring where minority women still commute long times on slow public transit. The findings highlight racial and gender disparities in geographical access to employment within the metropolitan region.

1990 年代时, 许多女性的通勤路程和时间皆较男性为短, 而研究则强调阶级与族裔隔离及运输管道对少数族裔女性通勤的有害影响。此后, 逐渐增大的所得差距, 以及高薪且稳固的工作和数量日渐增加的不稳定且低薪工作之间的分歧, 伴随着工作集中于市中心与城郊的地点, 以及女性在劳动市场中的角色转变。我们透过分析纽约大都会区域的通勤, 探讨这些趋势的若干地理意涵。2010 年时, 通勤中的性别与种族差异, 在大都会各地有所不同。迴归分析证实, 薪资与家户组成对于通勤的影响, 在受惠于私人及公共投资的高价市中心、传统性别角色仍然续存的城郊, 以及少数族裔女性仍然耗费长时间在缓慢的公共运输上的衰败内环区之间具有差异。研究结果凸显出大都会区域中, 就业地理管道中的种族与性别差异。

Durante los años 1990, muchas mujeres hacían viajes pendulares a distancias más cortas y de menos tiempo que los hombres, y la investigación enfatizó los efectos perniciosos de la segregación racial y étnica y acceso al transporte en el desplazamiento pendular de las mujeres de las minorías. Desde entonces, la creciente desigualdad en el ingreso y la bifurcación del empleo en trabajos seguros y bien remunerados y un creciente número de empleos inseguros y mal remunerados, han estado acompañados de una concentración de los puestos de trabajo en localidades centrales y suburbanas y la transformación de los papeles de las mujeres en el mercado laboral. Nosotros investigamos algunas de las implicaciones geográficas de estas tendencias analizando el viaje pendular en la región metropolitana de Nueva York. En el 2010, las diferencias de género y raza en el desplazamiento pendular variaron a través del área metropolitana. El análisis de regresión demuestra que los impactos de los salarios y la composición del hogar sobre el viaje pendular difieren entre las del centro altamente valorado, que se ha beneficiado de la inversión privada y pública, la de los suburbios donde persisten los papeles tradicionales de género, y el anillo más interior en deterioro donde las mujeres de las minorías todavía viajan por tiempo más largo en tránsito público lento. Los descubrimientos destacan disparidades raciales y de género en el acceso geográfico al empleo dentro de la región metropolitana.

Additional information

Author information

Valerie Preston

VALERIE PRESTON is a Professor in the Department of Geography at York University, Toronto, ON M3J 1P2, Canada. E-mail: . Her research interests include inequalities in geographies of employment related to race and gender and the impacts of immigration on urban housing and labor markets in North American cities.

Sara McLafferty

SARA McLAFFERTY is Department Head and a Professor in the Department of Geography and Geographic Information Science at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, Champaign, IL 61820. E-mail: . Her research investigates place-based inequalities in employment, health, and well-being and access to jobs and services for women, immigrants, and racial and ethnic minorities in the United States.

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge with gratitude helpful comments from three reviewers and the editor, the exceptional research assistance of Jamie Fishman, and informative discussions with Silvia D'Addario. The authors have contributed equally to this article.

Notes

1. The data are organized by place of residence, so unless otherwise stated, zones refer to place of residence.

2. For each race and gender group, the ratio compares the percentage of the group population working in a zone with the percentage of the group's population living there.

3. We use the racial categories reported in the ACS recognizing that notions of race are social constructions with material consequences for everyday life (Wilson 2009 Wilson, D. 2009. Introduction: Racialized poverty in US cities: Toward a refined racial economy perspective. The Professional Geographer 61 (2 Geographies of Mobility): 13949.[Taylor & Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] [Google Scholar]).

4. Due to the very large sample sizes, small differences in average travel time (0.1–0.2 minutes) would be deemed statistically significant. Therefore, we focus on the magnitude of differences, rather than their statistical significance.

5. The concentration of blacks in the inner ring and the preponderance of women among black workers mean that this gender difference dominates metropolitan-wide. For blacks, there are more women than men in the labor force, but for all other racial groups, the labor force is majority male.

6. We tested other model formulations, including models disaggregated by gender, and the results were highly consistent with those discussed here.