西方城市女性时空行为研究的新趋势及其对中国的启示

为满足当前城市社会发展与城市建设需要,西方女性时空行为研究近年来取得了长足进展,研究主题覆盖行为特征、社会公平、可持续性等方面。中国城市女性在转型期同样面临着重大的挑战,城市空间的性别不平等正在深刻地影响女性的日常行为与生活质量。本文系统梳理了近50年来西方女性时空行为研究成果,介绍了女性通勤行为、非工作活动等传统议题和家庭关系、联合行为、可达性等新问题的研究进展,并总结了女性时空行为研究的理论解释。西方女性时空行为研究早期关注经济转型背景下的女性出行行为,对就业可达性、通勤和非工作活动的性别差异进行了大量研究。近年来,西方研究呈现出多元化趋势,研究重点转向家庭关系、家庭联合行为与时空可达性等新主题,指出女性在日常生活中面临社会排斥与空间不平等。为理解女性时空行为模式的形成机制,学者从经济学、社会学、地理学等角度进行探讨,提出了地租与工资理论、劳动力市场隔离理论、家庭责任假说、女性的自我认知与社会文化、家庭资源分配说、时空固定性制约等解释理论。这些研究为中国城市女性时空行为研究提供了借鉴。针对中国女性面临的城市社会转型的独特背景,其时空行为受制度、家庭和自身的多重制约,提出了中国城市女性时空行为研究的框架和未来研究方向。

Trends of research on women's space-time behavior in Western countries and implications for studies in China

Feminist geography has been a very influential geographic research field in recent decades. Since women entered labor force in large numbers since the 1950s, urban development and urban planning were more concerned with the social and travel needs of professional women. Thus, studies on women's space-time behavior have drawn great attention from behavior geographer, transportation geographer, and urban planner. In China, although gender equality is believed to have been established since the 1950s, women began to face more challenges in their daily lives in recent years due to socioeconomic transitions. Gender inequality in many social fields is increasing, leading to more space-time constraints and gendered behavior to women. However, spatial behavior research of women in China is underdeveloped, which hinders an adequate understanding of the complex interactions between women's behavior and space. This article aims to put forward a framework for women's space-time behavior study in China. We first review the progress of women's space-time behavior research in Western countries. In early stage, such research focused on individuals' daily behaviors, such as the gender differences in commuting, non-work activity, and travel pattern, in the context of economic transition. Later more scholars became concerned with the household relationship and social inequality faced by women therefore more research on household structure, joint activity, and accessibility was conducted. Scholars have tried to interpret women's space-time behavior from different theoretical perspectives, including economic, sociological, and geographical points. All these efforts have contributed to establishing theories about women's daily life. Compared to their Western counterparts, Chinese women face some special social context, including more institutional and household constraints due to family planning, danwei transition, high proportion of dual-earner households, and emerging gender inequality. Finally, we propose a framework for women' space-time behavior study. We believe that household relationship, accessibility, joint activity, and differences among women should be studied carefully. We also indicate that theoretical studies on women' behavior should be emphasized in the future.