Genevra Knight says she can easily take an hour to get the 20 miles from her accounting job in Elk Grove Village to her Wicker Park home. Her experience is not that unusual, Chicago roadways are the third most congested in the nation, according to a recent report by the INRIX Traffic Information Service.
Even putting aside the price of gas, the sheer length of commutes is often enough to change people’s behavior. And new research suggests that long commute times play a key role in whether married women like Knight go to work at all.
Professor Dan Black says far more married women work in metropolitan areas with less traffic congestion. He teaches at the University of Chicago’s Harris School of Public Policy, and co wrote the study “Why do so few women work in New York and so many in Minneapolis?” He tells us more about his findings.
Music Button: Ryan Cohan, “Easy For You To Say”, from the CD One Sky, (Motema records)
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