ITR/PE(SBE): The Impact of Internet Use on Women's Activity Patterns and the Gender Division of Household Labor

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With the rapid growth in the amount of information resources and transaction opportunities on the Internet, Internet use is becoming an important dimension of social inequality. Among those who will be significantly affected by this social and technological trend, the situation of women calls for special attention because new technologies may not necessarily lead to significant beneficial changes in their everyday lives as suggested by past studies on women's urban experiences and interaction with new technologies. This research analyzes the impact of Internet use on women's activity patterns and the gender division of household labor. It attempts to answer the following questions: (a) Is Internet use helping to relax some of women's space-time constraints, thus allowing more flexible spatial and temporal arrangement of activities in the physical world and helping women to cope with the demand of their multiple roles? (b) How do women's Internet activities affect their activities in the physical world? (c) How does the Internet use of the female and male heads of household affect the gender division of household labor? To answer these questions, data from a sample of women in Columbus, Ohio, will be collected through an activity-Internet diary survey. Hypotheses will be tested through comparing the experiences of women with different levels of Internet use using structural equation models. Geographic information System-based three-dimensional visualization will also be used to analyze the space-time activity-Internet diary data. The study will enhance our understanding of the impact of Internet use on women's activity patterns and the gender division of household labor. The results will be useful for formulating social and economic policies in several important areas. For example, sustainable transportation policies aiming at reducing the amount of travel through telecommuting need to be informed by such understanding. If women's many needs to travel cannot be substituted by working at home using the Internet (e.g. chauffeuring children), encouraging women's telecommuting will neither reduce traffic nor their stress in everyday life. Further, this research will have significant implications for economic policies aiming at promoting electronic commerce and the use of the Internet. If the use of the Internet reinforces the existing gender division of household labor rather than engenders more equitable gender relations, appropriate economic policies may be needed to compromise the goal of reducing gender inequality in society at large.