Gender-Specific Transportation Costs and Female Time Use: Evidence from India’s Pink Slip Program

Abstract

Reducing gender-specific commuting barriers in developing countries can have heterogeneous effects on women’s labor outcomes. We study a program that offers free bus rides for women in several Indian states (the Pink Slip program) using a synthetic difference-in-differences approach to examine impacts on transportation expenditures, time use, and labor supply. We find that the program substantially reduces bus-related expenditures. However, when considering all women together, we find no significant changes in travel time, household production, or labor supply. Beneath these aggregate effects, responses vary sharply by employment, marital status, and education. Unmarried women employed prior to the policy increase labor supply, while married women with low and medium levels of education reallocate time away from paid work toward household chores. Overall employment rates remain unchanged in the short run, highlighting that reducing commuting costs does not uniformly improve women’s labor market outcomes.