Gender Patterns of Human Mobility in Colombia: Reexamining Ravenstein's Laws of Migration

TL;DR

This study analyzes gender-specific urban mobility patterns in Medellín, Colombia, comparing data from 2005 and 2017, revealing that women tend to make shorter trips and that mobility behaviors align with Ravenstein's Laws of Migration.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence on gender differences in urban mobility in Colombia and reexamines Ravenstein's migration laws in a contemporary context.

Findings

Women make shorter trips than men.

Mobility patterns differ by purpose of travel and occupation.

Urban mobility aligns with Ravenstein's Laws of Migration.

Abstract

Public stakeholders implement several policies and regulations to tackle gender gaps, fostering the change in the cultural constructs associated with gender. One way to quantify if such changes elicit gender equality is by studying mobility. In this work, we study the daily mobility patterns of women and men occurring in Medell\'in (Colombia) in two years: 2005 and 2017. Specifically, we focus on the spatiotemporal differences in the travels and find that purpose of travel and occupation characterise each gender differently. We show that women tend to make shorter trips, corroborating Ravenstein's Laws of Migration. Our results indicate that urban mobility in Colombia seems to behave in agreement with the "archetypal" case studied by Ravenstein.