The gender dimensions of travel time use in Germany

Abstract

Time use during travel has been the subject of considerable research in recent years thanks to its crucial role in determining the utility of travel time. While most of these studies have documented the effects of demographics and trip characteristics on travel time use, the effect of gender is still ambiguous. To understand the role of gender in travel time use, we explore the effect of gender interaction with non-travel time use behavior (daily habits, multitasking and preferences), joint travel (travel companion), and economic situation (income and working hours) on various time use activities (reading, ICT use and talking) during travel. Moreover, we address the mixed and scant evidence from prior studies regarding the effect of sociodemographic, residential and trip characteristics on travel time use. The study used the cross-sectional German Time Use Survey 2012/13 data and employed multi-level binary logistic regression for analysis. The results indicate four important findings: (1) women's socializing during travel is principally influenced by primary time spent on interaction with children and ICT usage, while men’s socializing during travel is positively influenced by traveling with their partners and socializing habits; (2) both women’s and men’s solitary activities during travel (e.g. reading/ICT use) are influenced by their economic situation (e.g. income, working hours) and daily non-travel time use habits (reading habits/ICT use habits); (3) individuals’ solitary time use during travel is positively influenced by other potential determinants such as living in semi-urban areas/East Germany, driving or traveling by public transport; and (4) socializing during travel is positively influenced by living with partners, having young children, evening/night/weekend trips, maintenance/leisure trips, traveling by public transport and walking.