Commuting time, residence, and wages of married women

The existing literature has shown that married women tend to choose short commutes because of relatively low wages combined with relatively heavy household responsibilities. The theoretical section of this paper, however, proposes that married women employed in highly paid positions also undertake short commutes, while middle-class married women choose long commutes. These results suggest that the commute times of married women display a backward-bending pattern. Using a sample of full-time employed married women in Japan, the empirical section of this paper also appears to support this finding. Moreover, the results suggest that highly paid married women can still secure greater leisure time with short commutes, despite retaining a heavy load of domestic responsibilities.