Studies of employment and commuting patterns in American metropolises have disclosed that women generally work at jobs closer to their homes and spend less time commuting than men. Most of these studies as considered women as a homogeneous group. The degree to which other economic, social, and ethnic factors may explain these general variations therefore is not well understood. This project will focus on an analysis of differences in work locations and commuting patterns among women from different racial and ethnic groups. The focus of the project will be development of a path-analytic model that distinguishes the effects of economic, household, and transportation characteristics on commuting time among people in different gender and racial/ethnic groups. The model will then be tested using statistical analyses of Public Use Microdata Sample census data for the New York Consolidated Statistical Area. This project will contribute to our specific knowledge about the dynamics of commuting patterns within the New York metropolitan area, a region of exceedingly complex economic, social, racial, and ethnic interaction. More importantly, it will add to our general insights about the factors that influence commuting and the relationships between the locations of jobs and homesites in modern metropolises, and it will enhance our understandings about the impact of gender on the spatial activity of individuals and groups.
