Constructing work travel inequalities: The role of household gender contracts

This article analyses how cohabiting women and men negotiate and respond to individual needs and claims related to commuting. The study is based on 20 in-depth interviews with parents of small children, who were highly skilled participants in specialized labour markets, living in the Gothenburg urban region of Sweden. The study applies a time-geography theoretical perspective and uses the concept of gender contract in analysing the interviews. In terms of work travel in everyday life, three distinctive types of gender contracts are identified: the traditional gender contract, the gender-equal contract, and the mixed gender contract. These contracts illustrate how individuals and households handle surrounding socio-spatial structures differently depending on their perceptions and manifestations of gender relationships. The identification of different contracts among the respondents indicates both re-enactment of and opposition to stereotypical gender structures in society; moreover, these contracts illustrate the individual's manoeuvring room within the frames of organizing structures.