An activity-based model of women’s activity-travel patterns

The daily schedule of women is dictated by various requirements, and consequently their activity–travel patterns are often more complex and heterogeneous than those of their male counterparts. The problems associated with women’s mobility have highlighted the need to treat males and females separately when travel behavior is represented, especially when transportation policy interventions are concerned. Because of the substantial differences between men’s and women’s activity and travel behavior, they may respond differently to policy changes. This paper describes an activity-based approach to women’s travel behavior analysis, where time is allocated to in-home and out-of-home nonwork activities. A mixed joint probit–Tobit model was developed for daily time allocation to a set of nonwork activities; it allows for two-stage choice: first a woman decides whether to engage in activities outside the home (discrete choice), then she chooses which nonwork activities to participate in and allocates the time for them (discrete–continuous choice). Data used for model estimation were from the Mobility and Equal Opportunities Survey conducted in Cagliari, Italy, in 2006 by Centro Interuniversitario Ricerche Economiche e Mobilità in collaboration with Cagliari Provincial Authority’s Department of Gender Equality. The survey results highlight the dual roles of women who have to divide their time between work and family and indicate how transportation system efficiency plays a pivotal role in women’s schedules and imposes constraints on their leisure time more than does any other individual or household characteristic.