In which settings can bicycles help to improve girls’ education in low-income countries? This paper analyzes the complementarity between all-weather roads and a bicycle program in India aimed at increasing girls’ secondary school enrollment. Using a triple-difference strategy, I find that the program benefits girls living 3–10 km away from schools with all-weather road connections, increasing their enrollment by 60 percent and reducing the gender enrollment gap by 51 percent. There are no effects for girls in villages without all-weather roads or girls living more than 10 km from school. The findings emphasize the importance and interdependence of road infrastructure, mode of transport, and distance to school for improving girls’ education in India.

在哪些情况下自行车可以帮助改善低收入国家女童的教育？本文分析了印度全天候道路和旨在提高女童中学入学率的自行车计划之间的互补性。通过使用三重差异策略，我发现该计划使居住在距离学校 3 至 10 公里、拥有全天候道路连接的女孩受益，将她们的入学率提高了 60%，并将性别入学率差距缩小了 51%。对于没有全天候道路的村庄中的女孩或居住在距离学校 10 公里以上的女孩来说，没有影响。研究结果强调了道路基础设施、交通方式和上学距离对于改善印度女童教育的重要性和相互依赖性。