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Life-Oriented Behavioral Research for Urban Policy pp 243–265Cite as

Influence of Land Use and Transport Policies on Women’s Labor Participation and Life Choices

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Abstract

Across the whole world, gender inequality issues are serious, mainly because of traditional thinking about the role specification within a household. Within the context of urban policy, relevant studies are very limited. This chapter argues that women’s labor participation should be further promoted for not only achieving gender equality, but also realizing sustainable economic development. Based on an extensive literature review, a case study in Japan was conducted by considering women’s family responsibilities (especially, childcare), associated work–family conflict, time-related work–leisure conflict, and stress-related work–health conflict jointly. To examine women’s decisions on labor participation associated with other life choices, a recursive multiequation system is used. Applying such a modeling system have several advantages: (1) to identify the barriers to women’s labor participation in Japan after controlling for the effects of land use, transport, and life cycle stages; (2) to clarify the factors for women’s good quality of family life, leisure life, health life, and quality of life as a whole; and (3) to provide cross-sectoral policy implications for women’s labor participation and promotion of quality of life and work–life balance.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The younger generation of women in Japan is more highly educated than are their female peers elsewhere. In 2010, the cohort of women aged in their late 20s had on average 14.3 years of schooling, which is surpassed only by New Zealand among advanced economies.

  2. 2.

    The Japanese Times. Saving Japan: promoting women’s role in the workforce would help. (http://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2013/04/21/commentary/saving-japan-promoting-womens-role-in-the-workforce-would-help/#.VtbxPHol2gS.nish).

  3. 3.

    Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare. Ministry of the young adults in Japan, which refers to the people aged from 15 to 34 years old. (In Japanese). (http://www.mhlw.go.jp/topics/2010/01/tp0127-2/12.html).

  4. 4.

    OECD Better Life Index. (http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/topics/life-satisfaction/).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Transportation and Logistics, East China Jiao Tong University, Nanchang, China

    Yubing Xiong

  2. Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan

    Junyi Zhang

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  1. Yubing Xiong
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Correspondence to Yubing Xiong .

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  1. Hiroshima University , Higashi-Hiroshima, Japan

    Junyi Zhang

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Xiong, Y., Zhang, J. (2017). Influence of Land Use and Transport Policies on Women’s Labor Participation and Life Choices. In: Zhang, J. (eds) Life-Oriented Behavioral Research for Urban Policy. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56472-0_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56472-0_9

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