Two-earner families and their action spaces: A case study of two dutch communities

Abstract

In the European Community (EC), women's labour market participation lags behind the rate of men's participation. In Sweden and Finland, labour participation of women was almost as large as that of men in 1995; the ratio between women's and men's labour participation was almost one. In the Netherlands, in contrast, this ratio was approximately 0.7. Countries like Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Austria, and Portugal lie somewhere in the middle (Jaarboek Emancipane, 1997). Despite the general employment situation of women, the Netherlands is a front runner with regard to part-time work. Almost 70% of working women in The Netherlands work less than 12 h a week! In Sweden and the United Kingdom, this figure is respectively 40 and 45%. Of all Dutch working men, almost one-fifth work part-time. Denmark and Sweden come in second and third place, with more than 10% of the men working part-time (Jaarboek Emancipane, 1997). In the coming years, women's labour participation is expected to rise, especially in The Netherlands. By 2010, the labour participation of Dutch women will be up from 49% to 61% (Commissie THOA, 1995). An increase in professional child-care facilities and other institutional arrangements, along with a growing acceptance of women and men combining paid work with child-care and housekeeping, will stimulate this development. In this respect, the National Commission for Day Scheduling, which was inaugurated in 1997 by the Dutch Minister of Labour, was an important player. The commission was focused on reducing the constraints on combining paid labour with housekeeping and child care (Commissie Dagindeling, 1997). How will these developments affect the labour market with respect to transportation? So far, studies shows that the commuting distance of women is smaller than that of men (Madden, 1981; Knippenberg et al., 1990; Singell and Lillydahl, 1986; Pickup, 1981; Pratt and Hanson, 1991). One of the reasons for this difference between the sexes is the inequal distribution of housekeeping and child care over the spouses. A short commuting distance makes it easy to combine these activities. As a consequence of reducing the constraints on combining different activities, the daily journey to work of women can increase. This will be more likely if part-time jobs are exchanged for full-time jobs. Working women are less dependent on the automobile and more on public transport and walking (Pazy et al., 1996). In spite of this general observation, two-earner families are characterized by the highest car ownership and car use (Vijgen, 1993). The car offers them the opportunity to combine in a relatively short time paid labour with housekeeping and child care. Thus, an increase in women's labour market paricipation may be expected to stimulate use of the private car (Jansen, 1993; Van Schendelen and Quist, 1990). According to Pazy et al. (1996), the gap between the sexes with respect to travel patterns is already narrowing! It is no exaggeration to say that the increase in women's labour market participation will lead to an increase in the number of miles traveled by private car. This development can be a threat to the policies which aim at creating a sustainable environment. With regard to transport, these policies ncourage the use of public transport, bicycling, and walking at the expense of the automobile. In what way can the expected developments in travel patterns of two-earner households be modified to meet the demands of a sustainable environment?