DINKs vs. DIPs: Gender and Parenthood in Journey to Work Distances

Abigail M Cooke, University of California, Los Angeles

There has been a consistent finding for several decades and in many urban areas that women, as a group, have shorter commute distances than men, yet, the role of parenthood in this gap remains understudied. Furthermore, important recent changes in America’s labor force, families, and urban economic geography, suggest that the subject deserves continued attention. This paper addresses the correspondence of household and family structure to commute distances. I compare the commutes for each partner in dual-income households with children (DIPs – Dual Income Parents) and in dual-income households without children (DINKs – Dual Income No Kids). The paper focuses on the gendered differences of parenthood, and examines how this holds over race/ethnicity, skill/education, occupation/industry, number/age of the children, and neighborhood variance. It looks at the specific case of Los Angeles in 2000-2002, using the LA F.A.N.S. Wave One dataset.