Changing travel patterns of women in the Netherlands Contribution to 31st IATUR Conference of the International Association for Time Use Research

Abstract. Being employed or unemployed, the possession of driving licenses, and household composition are major determinants of travel behaviour. In this context, several social developments occurred in recent decades that have had great impact on women’s travel patterns, in particular. Over the past 25 years, for example, the labour force participation rate among women has grown by more than 27 % in the Netherlands, whereas the labour force participation of men has hardly changed. A second important development is the growing percentage of women who possess driving licenses: this figure has risen by nearly 25 % since the mid-1980s. Feminism has also affected the position of women within the family: the number of single women continues to increase, getting married is less common, and giving birth to children now happens later in life. Because women work more frequently and work even longer hours, domestic tasks must be divided between husbands and wives, or male and female domestic partners. The Netherlands Institute for Transport Policy Analysis (KiM) therefore conducted a study to improve its understanding of the relationship between socia