לאן אנו נעות? הגירה פנימית ותעסוקת נשים בישראל

Since World War II, women across the world have entered employment and education in massive numbers. However, despite the dramatic change in women’s participation in the labor force, the literature shows that a household’s decision as to where to live accords significantly less weight to the woman’s employment needs and opportunities than to other household considerations.Many researchers have shown that as women are still responsible for most of the caregiving and housework, they tend to prefer locally available jobs. Historically, as large numbers of families moved to the suburbs, employers exploited this phenomenon to offer women jobs that were close to home but paid less than similar jobs in the cities. Many researchers argue that consequently the city offers a greater possibility for gender equality. This is especially true in areas which are characterized by dense traffic, where travelling to and from work, home, day care, school and other necessary destinations, can add more pressure to the already hectic lifestyles of double-earner households.However, even with the advantages of urban life in mind, households’ residential decisions are influenced by many other competing factors. During the past decade, and in particular since the financial crisis of 2008, a global housing crisis has erupted characterized by a severe shortage of affordable housing. In response, governments in many countries have developed policies aimed at increasing the supply of affordable housing, and this in turn has influenced internal migration trends.This study looks at one of the many social aspects influenced by changing internal migration trends – the employment status of women. We ask how women’s employment in Israel has been affected by recent changes in internal migration trends and specifically by trends initiated, or at least encouraged by, deliberate government policy. The study uses data from a survey of about 800 men and women who relocated from the Tel Aviv District, which is the heart of the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, into municipalities in the Central District, which are farther away from the center of the metropolis.The findings show that while the entire household may gain from the advantages of moving away from the metropolitan core to the Central District, the disadvantages of transitioning are greater and more significant for women compared to men. More precisely, the research points to women paying a penalty in terms of their employment in order to advance the overall interests of their families