IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/retrec/v111y2025ics0739885925000460.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The potential impact of childbirth on women's commute time and labour market participation: a cohort analysis

Author

Listed:
  • Hosseini Shoabjareh, Azamsadat
  • Ghasri, Milad

Abstract

Women are reported to have lower commute times and labour market participation (LMP) than men, reflecting gender inequality in the labour market. While progress in workplace gender equality and a more equitable distribution of household responsibilities are expected to reduce this gap, certain biological life events, such as childbirth, may continue to disproportionately impact women's LMP and commute times. This study examines the temporal effect of childbirth on women's LMP and commute time while controlling for individual, period, and cohort effects. We use the longitudinal survey of Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) to analyse historical trends in the gender gap across four cohorts of Post-War, Baby Boomers, Generation X, and Millennials and quantify the impact of childbirth on women's LMP and commute time. The results show that the gender gap exists in LMP and commute time across all the investigated generations, nevertheless, the gap has decreased for younger generations. Childbirth reduces women's LMP and commute time by up to 82.3 % and 45.8 %, respectively. The adverse effect of childbirth on LMP and commute time diminishes over time. However, even 12 months after childbirth, LMP and commute time do not fully revert to their pre-childbirth levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Hosseini Shoabjareh, Azamsadat & Ghasri, Milad, 2025. "The potential impact of childbirth on women's commute time and labour market participation: a cohort analysis," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:111:y:2025:i:c:s0739885925000460
    DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101563
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885925000460
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.retrec.2025.101563?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:111:y:2025:i:c:s0739885925000460. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620614/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.