Around the world, workplace gains for women consistently reverse as soon as they have children. More than a decade of research suggests their commutes deserve blame, The Atlantic reports. It cites a study showing that a 10-minute increase in commuting time across 272 U.S. cities decreased the probability that a married woman worked by 4.4 percentage points. Moms accounted for most of that drop, especially those with young children. Writes the Atlantic: "To help moms work outside the home, society needs to make it easier for them to work near home."
Studies have shown that the gender gap in the length of commuting times widens significantly after childbirth - longer for fathers, shorter for mothers.
This piece turn it another way - to show how as the average commuting time increases, mother's likelihood of staying in the job declines significantly (4.4%).
Put it yet another way, there is a reason why RTOs will push women out of the labour market - as responsibilities at home + long commuting into the office does not work.
It CAN work for women if
- men step up and do an equal and greater share of housework, childcare and the mental load
- state steps up and provide easily accessible cheap good quality public childcare
- Employers step up and change the working patterns so it is compatible with family - so if you want workers in the office, maybe reduce your working hours (4 day week) or count commuting times as a part of work - or just remove the idea of working hours as a way to measure committment/productivity and evaluate people based on their outputs.
If you don't you are actively pushing women and people with caring (including self care) responsibilities outside of the job/labour market. And I know you know this even if you don't like to admit to it.