Race,Gender, and Constrained Work Trips in Buffalo,NY, 1990

This study investigates whether women's short commutes should be interpreted as constrained or convenient work trips by examining how race, gender, travel mode, occupation, residential location, workplace location, and Inc.ome affect commuting time. The analysis is restricted to a sample of European American and African American male and female workers residing in Buffalo, New York, and the surrounding county using data drawn from the Public Use Microdata Samples of the 1990 U.S. census. Given the pervasive gender wage gap, women unsurprisingly have more compromised (short commutes to low-Inc.ome jobs) work trips than do men. Multivariate analysis reveals that among those who reverse commute to suburban locations, African American women have the longest work trips.     

RACIAL DIFFERENCES IN THE COMMUTING BEHAVIOR OF WOMEN IN BUFFALO, 1980-1990

Disagreement persists about whether or not African American workers in U.S. metropolitan areas are more distant from centers of employment opportunities than European American workers are. But few studies on employment accessibility focus on racial differences among women. Analyses of 1980 and 1990 census Public Use Microdata Samples for Erie County (Buffalo), New York show that, by 1990, African American and European American women who use private vehicles generally spend about the same time commuting. However in both years, work trips to destinations outside the central city penalize African American women relative to European American women. If employment opportunities, especially service jobs, continue to expand in suburban locations and not in central-city locations, the African American women who have to reverse commute (even when they use a car) are unlikely to enjoy the relative convenience of short commutes that characterize the journey-to-work behavior of European American women with suburban employment.     

Race,Gender, and Spatial Segmentation in the Twin Cities*

This study analyzes commuting trends in a relatively vibrant setting during the 1980s to determine (a) how labor market segmentation correlates with differences in the spatial dimensions of local labor markets, and (b) whether this link represents a direct spatial effect, independent of earnings, travel mode, and part-time work. I use 1980 and 1990 PUMS data to analyze changes in racial and gender divisions in the workforce, and I develop an estimate of work trip distance to adjust for different travel modes. For all groups except white men, employment in a job “typical” of one's gender and racial group is associated with more localized commutes, but this effect is strongly mediated by variations in earnings and part-time work. Using a covariance structure model to control for these effects, I find no independent link between segmentation and longer commutes among African Americans. Earnings and commute distances remained unchanged over the decade for African Americans, providing no evidence of a purely spatial mismatch manifest in lengthening work trips without corresponding wage gains. The spatial dimensions of an employment mismatch for inner-city minorities are concealed through the replacement of production jobs by poorly paid service work in the expanding downtown economy of a vibrant regional center.     

Who has long commutes to low-wage jobs? Gender,race, and access to work in the New York region

Geographies of home and work have changed as public investment has favored central and distant suburban locations and as income inequality has increased. These changes result in shifting geographies of advantage that (dis)benefit gender and racial/ethnic groups unevenly. We examine commuting differentials by gender and race/ethnicity based on combinations of wages and commute times using data for the New York region.We find that Black, Asian, and Hispanic women and men are concentrated in jobs that have long commutes and low-wages, and Black and Hispanic workers’ concentrations increased from 2000–2010.Although Asian men and women remain overrepresented in that category, their share decreased in the 2000's.The urban core has become a region of heightened advantage, as White men, and an increasing share of White women, commute short times to well-paid jobs. Disadvantage has expanded for Black and Latina women whose long commutes are not compensated by well-paid employment.     

Spatial Mismatch and Employment in a Decade of Restructuring∗

Spatial barriers to employment limit women's job opportunities, but their effects differ among racial/ethnic minority groups. This study evaluates the degree of spatial mismatch for minority women and men by comparing the commuting times of African American, Latino, and white workers in the New York metropolitan region. Using Public Use Microdata for 1980 and 1990, we perform a partial decomposition analysis to assess the role of spatial mismatch in lengthening commuting times for minority workers. The results show that African American men and women living in the center of the region have poorer spatial access to employment than their white counterparts. In the suburbs, African American women and Latinas suffer no spatial mismatch; rather, their longer commuting times reflect greater reliance on mass transit. Comparison with 1980 findings reveals little change in spatial mismatch over time despite significant economic and social restructuring in the 1980s. Spatial barriers still limit employment prospects for the majority of minority women living at the core of the region.     

Travel From Home: An Economic Geography of Commuting Distances in Montreal

The question of how home and workplace are linked through commuting is at the heart of much recent work on metropolitan areas. However, the emphasis tends to be either on spatial-economic models or on the impact of empirically measured individual, household, neighborhood, and transport mode characteristics; relatively little work has focused on job characteristics and place of employment as they relate to travel to work. In this article, I investigate whether people travel different distances to access different types of job location, with particular attention to the different distances traveled by men and women. My points of reference are the major employment centers (poles) in the Montreal region. After controlling for a wide range of explanations that may account for different travel distances, I conclude that differences in commuting length between different places of work are, by and large, independent of possible explanatory factors such as residential location, economic sector, occupation, income, and participation in household earnings—some places of work generate longer commutes than others. Men and women behave differently in relation to these places: women will travel farther to access jobs in centers whereas men will not; and despite their shorter average overall commutes, women travel farther than men to reach jobs in the CBD. This suggests, at the metropolitan scale, that each job location may have its own local culture or "milieu," and that men and women react differently to them.     

Gendering Job Competition: Immigration and African American Employment in Chicago, 1990-2000

This investigation of demographic changes between 1990 and 2000 within African American employment concentrations in Chicago finds that the effects of immigration on African American employment differ by gender. Black women increasingly shared their niche industries with immigrant women without being displaced, a pattern of coexistence that indicates the primacy of gender in sorting women into employment. By contrast, similar patterns were absent between African American and immigrant men, and several niche industries reflected competition. Yet economic restructuring more significantly affected African American male and female employment than immigration. Among women, these same trends also affected immigrants. Both groups were adversely affected by the growth of low-wage employment in female-dominated, care-work jobs—their primary industries of overlap. These findings underscore the significance of gender in problematizing ethnic/racial divisions of labor and the need to consider economic consequences that cross these divisions as well as derive from them within urban economies.     

The Influence of Household Type on Gender Differences in Work Trip Distance*

Conflicting evidence exists in the literature on commuting about whether or not the greater household responsibilities of women lead to their widely observed shorter work trips compared to men. In light of changes in American houehold structures, this study reexamines the household responsibility hypothesis by focusing on household type (defined in terms of number of workers present in the home). Male and female work-trip distances are compared for Baltimore workers in single-worker households and for those in two-worker households. The findings support the household responsibility hypothesis by showing a larger and more significant sex disparity among respondents in two-worker households than among those in single-worker households even after controlling for other factors, including presence of children. These results, and the finding that married women have shorter work trips than married men, are in line with the general conclusions of some previous studies that the unequal division of labor within the household is partly responsible for the gender differnce.     

Maquiladora Myths: Locational and Structural Change in Mexico's Export Manufacturing Industry

Trends in location, labor force, and procurement practices in maquiladoras are examined using recent data sources. A growing proportion of maquiladoras are selecting interior locations, south of the borderlands. Once dominated by young women, the labor force is rapidly approaching gender parity. While far below prevailing rates in the United States, maquiladora wages are comparable with equivalent manufacturing sectors in Mexico. Majority ownership of maquiladoras is split almost evenly between Mexico and the U.S., however, maquiladoras have failed to develop domestic sources of materials and parts and remain dependent on imported material inputs. As the North American Free Trade Agreement is phased in, the regulatory environment of maquiladoras will change but their role as low cost assembly specialists will persist.     

Gendered spaces - socio-spatial relations of self-employed women in craft production,Orissa, India

The present article concerns female self-employment in craft production in Orissa, India. Although industrial policies in India have attempted to address some of the socio-economic problems in local craft production through cooperative societies and subsidies, issues of the division of labour, factors of production and the processes of constructing individual gender identity are embedded in the gender structure and remain invisible to the new social order. Socio-spatial relations of gendered spaces are also deeply embedded in the traditional Brahmanical social order. The analysis is based on the individual story of one female businesswoman. The significance of the individual narrative is discussed with reference to feminist geographies and the self-reflexivity of the researchers. The story of Mami is about her struggle to become a successful businesswoman, and highlights the interrelationship between her actions, her perceptions of work and the socio-economic spaces that she has to relate to. Her story reveals that self-employed women can act as role models for other women and contribute to increasing their power in local and place-bound situations.     

PERSONAL ICONS AND AMULETS: REFLECTIONS OF CULTURE-VALUES AND HUMAN/LAND RELATIONSHIPS

Abstract

The chauffeuring of children to/from school and childcare providers has received limited attention in previous research, although it structures parents' everyday activities in important ways. Combining analytical and cultural perspectives on juggling employment and caregiving, I explore the impact of such factors as household structure, employment and commute characteristics, residential location, and culturally defined norms about parenthood on chauffeuring arrangements for dual-earner households in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Fathers conduct a considerable share of chauffeuring trips, but arrangements are often informed by traditional gender norms. The spatial variability in the gendering of chauffeuring is limited.     

Job Access and Commute Penalties: Balancing Work and Residence in Los Angeles

There is an ongoing debate about whether minorities and women pay a commute penalty—that is, do these groups commute farther for lower wages than White males? Research based on commuting time has suggested that minority women bear the multiple jeopardy of race and gender in their journey-to-work behavior. The present study re-examines those findings. We show that minority women who commute longer distances have higher earnings. There is a positive or in some cases neutral relationship between distance and earnings. This suggests that we treat the notion of a commute penalty with some caution. However, women still do not earn as much as men and they are relatively if not absolutely disadvantaged in the commuting process. As expected, for women as for men, skill is a major factor in earnings gains, and relying on public transportation negatively affects earnings. In the past decade it has been fashionable to focus on the negative impacts of commuting on women, but the evidence from this study suggests that the shorter commutes by women may be an expression of the way in which families balance work and residence.     

Maps,Numbers, Text,and Context: Mixing Methods in Feminist Political Ecology∗

This research tests the spatial mismatch hypothesis by comparing the employment probabilities of central city versus suburban African American males in nine metropolitan areas. Treatment effects models are used to control for the effects of both individual characteristics and residential self-selection on the probability of employment. A positive effect of suburban residential location on employment is found for the residents of Dallas, Los Angeles, New York, and Washington, while no effect is found for the residents of Cleveland, Houston. Jackson, Memphis, and Newark. The general conclusion to be drawn is that the spatial mismatch effect is contingent on the particular characteristics of each metropolitan area. Preliminary analysis shows that metropolitan areas with a spatial mismatch effect are large in terms of total population and total land area, and have less efficient transportation systems.     

Gender,Place, and Social Contacts: Understanding Awareness of Vulnerability to Terrorism

Abstract

Creating resiliency, accomplished in part by individuals preparing for disaster, is the primary strategy outside of law enforcement for responding to the threat of urban terrorism. Individuals prepare when they perceive a need to do so, yet little is known about what shapes a person's awareness of vulnerability to terrorism. Because evidence indicates that social contacts act as conduits of information and affect perception of risk to natural hazards, it is possible that such contacts also affect terrorism vulnerability awareness. Because social contacts are also known to be systematically segmented by gender and location, we hypothesized that conversations about terrorism vary by gender and place, specifically the home and work place. Drawing on data from 93 interviews with householders in Boston, the study demonstrates that: (1) family networks generated discussions of home preparedness, whereas workplace networks engaged a wider variety of topics; (2) women discussed terrorism more frequently and in greater depth than did men; and (3) women heard more preparedness messages for the home than did men, whereas men undertook preparedness activities external to the home. The findings bridge geography and terrorism studies by theorizing emplaced and subjective human experiences that prompt conversations about terrorism. These conversations, in turn, help urban emergency managers and risk-hazards geographers promote rational dialogue and action vis-à-vis terrorism. Hazards researchers have shown that the more people discuss terrorism, the less they seek extreme and unwarranted responses.     

CONTAINMENT AND MISMATCH: GENDER DIFFERENCES IN COMMUTING IN METROPOLITAN LABOR MARKETS

The spatial containment of women relative to men remains a prominent theme in research on women's employment in American cities. Drawing on a dataset for all metropolitan areas in the United States in 1990, this research analyzes the contextual variability of containment effects and the link between localized commutes and the incidence of occupational sex segregation. Women's more localized commutes persist across most of the urban system, with particularly wide differentials in suburban labor markets in proximity to national service and finance centers. Treatment effects models confirm that differences in the extent of local labor markets among women reinforce occupational sex segregation, but the effect varies by mode of travel. Working close to home slightly increases the likelihood of segregation for women with access to private automobiles, suggestive of spatial containment. Among women reliant on bus transportation, spatial mismatch is so severe that even poorly paid secondary jobs require long commutes.     

Getting Away with the Stolen Vehicle: An Investigation of Journey-after-Crime*

Abstract

Analyses of criminals' travel patterns can provide significant suggestions to improve crime management. This study extends the investigation of criminals' travel behavior from journey-to-crime to journey-after-crime. Moreover, new methods are developed to examine the spatial patterns of location pairs when restricted by the underlying geographical process. The methods are employed to investigate criminals' journey-after-auto-theft in the city of Buffalo, New York. The analyses reveal that auto thieves' trips from vehicle-theft locations to the corresponding vehicle-recovery locations are local in nature. The travel distances are significantly shorter than the randomly simulated trips; the travel directions are biased from the random directions as well.     

Field Trips as Valuable Learning Experiences in Geography Courses

Abstract

Field trips have been acknowledged as valuable learning experiences in geography. This article uses Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning model to discuss how students learn and how field trips can help enhance learning. Using Kolb’s experiential learning theory as a guide in the design of field trips helps ensure that field trips contribute to internalizing relevant geographical theory and concepts. Three types of field trips are presented: an informal survey of a neighborhood, a more formal scavenger hunt, and a virtual field trip using Google Earth.

Learning is the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience.

—Kolb (1984)     

Elderly co-residence and the household responsibilities hypothesis: evidence from Nanjing,China

In this paper, we analyze the effects of co-residence with elderly parents on gender differences in travel. The Household Responsibility Hypothesis (HRH) explains differences in the role of women regarding household responsibilities. However, research so far has studied “Western” household types while excluding households with co-residing elderly parents. Furthermore, research has paid exclusive attention to gender differences in commuting trips, and has neglected the effects of built environment characteristics. In view of these shortcomings, we pose the following research questions: what are the determinants of gendered differences in travel behavior, and specifically, what are the effects of elderly co-residence in households and land use on gender differences in trip frequency and travel distance? In addition to the HRH, we introduce the Elderly Co-residence Hypothesis, which suggests that co-residing elderly parents take over household responsibilities from adult women, resulting in diminishing gender differences in working-age travel patterns. We present the results of empirical research in Nanjing, China, that support this hypothesis.     

The Geography Course in the Oswego State Normal and Training School

Abstract

This article addresses the knowledge of geography and geography-related careers of sixth and ninth grade students in six Florida schools. For geography knowledge no sex differences were noted for the total sample, ninth grade African American males outperformed African American females, achievement differed by school, and students knew most about skills and least about physical geography Students' career knowledge increased with grade level; males were more knowledgeable than females; African American females were the least knowledgeable; sex-related differences became more pronounced in ninth grade; and the most frequently cited careers were cartographer, explorer, meteorologist, and news person.     

Multistop-based measurements of accessibility in a GTS environment

Abstract

The opportunities available at a demand location are usually measured as the costs of reaching a specified critical number of facilities from that location. This method does not however, account for multistop trips nor for differences in the diversity of supply at the level of individual facilities. In this paper we introduce an alternative measurement method that overcomes these shortcomings. In this method the probability of successfully visiting a specific facility is assumed to be a function of the diversity of supply provided. Trip routes are constructed that have an acceptable probability of success. Then, the expected costs of travelling the optimum route are determined as an indicator of spatial opportunities. The proposed method has been implemented in a GIS environment, using typical GIS data and GIS tools for spatial analysis and display. The results of a case study indicate that the new method, compared to current methods, may lead to different evaluations of the level of opportunities at demand locations.