Scotiabank's Female Head Office Commuting Distances in Toronto 1952 and 1960
by Ingrid Menninga © 2007

While studies on gendered commute times and distances became increasingly common in the 1980's and 1990's few researchers have focused on the period before widespread office suburbanization. This study examines commute distances for female Scotiabank Head Office employees in 1952 and 1960. Employee home locations were geocoded and the commute distances between work and home were calculated to allow for analysing changes in these the two periods. In addition the commute distances were isolated based on marital status and job title to determine if there was a significant relationship between these employee characteristics and commute distances. Further to this analysis demographic profiles for census tracts where employees lived were created and compared for the 1951 and 1961 census. These profiles were also compared to the average demographic characteristics for the Toronto CMA to determine if the areas where the employees lived were similar to or different from the average for the city.