{"id":6337,"date":"2016-05-11T19:14:59","date_gmt":"2016-05-11T13:44:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6337"},"modified":"2016-05-11T19:14:59","modified_gmt":"2016-05-11T13:44:59","slug":"gender-commute-gap-how-distance-gets-in-the-way-of-womens-ambitions-within-her-reach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=6337","title":{"rendered":"Gender Commute Gap: How Distance Gets in the Way of Women\u2019s Ambitions"},"content":{"rendered":"\nT<\/span>here are few things more nerve-wracking than taking the plunge to quit a job and look for greener pastures. Last year, I found myself in that unenviable state that comes to every young professional: the dreaded job-hunt, which itself is a full-time job.\n\nIn the midst of finding my dream job, I realised, I had been horribly spoiled. For nearly two years, my office was only a five-minute walk from my house and I avoided the hideous commute that eats up hours of so many Mumbaikars\u2019 days. All that comfort would be gone in the blink of a notice period.\n\nWhen I was finally offered a better opportunity, I thought twice about what I would say. Sure, it was the exact thing I\u2019d been looking for and I knew I could handle the demands of the job. But how would I handle the late-night commute, taking the train or bus at odd hours?\n\nAs it turns out, I wasn\u2019t alone in factoring in the commute into my decision to take a job. According to census data<\/a> from 2011, 45 per cent of Indian women don\u2019t leave their homes to work \u2014 not that the statistics are so much more promising for those who dare to venture outside. Despite public transport and special compartments for women, three in five women still choose their workplace based on where they live. They limit their opportunities to only a kilometre from home, and many women are more likely to give up higher-paying jobs in favour of a shorter commute.\n\n

When working women have to dabble between home and work, a long commute is out of the question. <\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nLiving in a metro like Mumbai, I hadn\u2019t thought about what\u2019s known as the gender commute gap until I had to choose, too. Most working women are forced to stay close to home because, despite working the same hours as men, they are also expected to shoulder the burdens of household chores and childcare. When they have to dabble between home and work, a long commute is out of the question.\n\nFor the minority like me, who are encouraged to focus on their careers, it doesn\u2019t matter how much equality we have within our homes. My mother, a bindaas working professional since Mumbai was Bombay, would nevertheless call in the evening to ask me how I\u2019m getting home safely, my father would call every few minutes to check where I have reached. But they seem to be more at ease now that they know I depend on an Uber to get me home\n\nParents will always be concerned, you might say, and maybe they\u2019re right to be. But what about employers who put out these job postings in hopes of finding the best candidates? When 60% of working women won\u2019t consider a job that\u2019s further than a 15-minute walk, it\u2019s not just the women who are at a disadvantage. The gender commute gap has a serious impact on women\u2019s labour force participation, already at an alarming historic low<\/a>. Businesses are automatically choosing from a greatly diminished pool of applicants, leaving qualified and capable women stuck in workplaces that don\u2019t use their full potential.\n\nIf I didn\u2019t have the option to travel each day with peace of mind, I might have been one of those women. But services like Uber are bankable; women can fall back on them as they are safe, reliable and affordable. They are #WithinHerReach. They play a big role in\u00a0 helping working women bridge the gender commute gap that threatens to confine them to jobs in their own neighbourhoods. As long as employers and society can step up and acknowledge the unique challenges their female employees face, women will no longer have to worry about unsafe, inconvenient commutes. After all, why should distance get in the way of their dreams?\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I signed on for a new professional opportunity, I knew I could handle the demands of the job. But how would I handle the late-night commute, taking rickshaws through deserted streets at odd hours? I am not alone: 3 in 5 Indian women limit their opportunities to only a kilometre from home.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":208,"featured_media":6338,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7083],"tags":[10338,10339,3816,10340,9970],"class_list":["post-6337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-dream-job","tag-gender-commute-gap","tag-public-transport","tag-within-her-reach","tag-working-women"],"yoast_head":"\nGender Commute Gap: How Distance Gets in the Way of Women\u2019s Ambitions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When I signed on for a new professional opportunity, I knew I could handle the demands of the job. But how would I handle the late-night commute, taking rickshaws through deserted streets at odd hours? I am not alone: 3 in 5 Indian women limit their opportunities to only a kilometre from home.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=6337\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gender Commute Gap: How Distance Gets in the Way of Women\u2019s Ambitions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When I signed on for a new professional opportunity, I knew I could handle the demands of the job. But how would I handle the late-night commute, taking rickshaws through deserted streets at odd hours? 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