Demand for Safe Spaces: Avoiding Harassment and Stigma

What are the costs to women of harassment on public transit? This study randomizes the price of a women-reserved "safe space" in Rio de Janeiro and crowdsource information on 22,000 rides. Women in the public space experience harassment once a week. A fifth of riders are willing to forgo 20 percent of the fare to ride in the "safe space" . Randomly assigning riders to the "safe space" reduces physical harassment by 50 percent, implying a cost of $1.45 per incident. Implicit Association Tests show that women face a stigma for riding in the public space that may outweigh the benefits of the safe space.

Keywords: Transport in Urban Areas, Urban Transport, Gender and Development, Crime and Society, Transport Services, Labor Markets

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Kondylis, Florence and Legovini, Arianna and Vyborny, Kate and Zwager, Astrid Maria Theresia and Cardoso De Andrade, Luiza, Demand for Safe Spaces: Avoiding Harassment and Stigma (June 3, 2020). World Bank Policy Research Working Paper No. 9269, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3618734