The rise of ride-hailing services in Kathmandu has enabled women to claim public spaces, challenge entrenched patriarchal norms and redefine their roles in traditionally male-dominated domains. However, these women frequently face acts of gender policing (Pascoe, 2007)—a systematic enforcement of societal expectations regarding gender. Manifested through unwelcome verbal comments, intrusive personal questions, physical behaviors, and familial or community disapproval, gender policing reflects deeply entrenched patriarchal norms that question women’s presence in public spaces and demand their constant justification. Consequently, women riders navigate these challenges through persistent forms of everyday resistance to maintain their survival and agency as riders.

This study examines the everyday resistance women motorcycle riders employ to combat various forms of gender policing in ride-hailing services in Kathmandu. Through the analysis of 21 in-depth interviews, participant observations at social events, social media conversations and informal discussions with the researcher during rides, this research focuses on the resistance strategies to navigate to key forms of gender policing: (i) surveillance: observing and scrutinizing women riders to ensure conformity to societal expectations of gender, and (ii) sexual harassment: employment of unwelcome verbal, emotional or physical advancements of sexual nature to enforce those norms when women riders were perceived to break the normative boundaries by undertaking the ride-hailing work. Drawing from the theoretical framework of everyday resistance (Lilja  et al., 2017; Scott, 1985), the analysis focuses on how the women riders assert agency through everyday resistance in an environment that frequently questions their presence and intentions. The findings show that many acts of everyday resistance involve subtle and seemingly invisible practices, such as ignoring harassers or fabricating responses to intrusive personal questions—similar to what Scott refers to as “infrapolitics”. These acts, while seemingly mundane, challenge dominant power structures without overt political confrontation. Sometimes, these covert strategies transform into overt resistance, including vocal confrontations or collective action, particularly when customers’ behaviors cross boundaries of acceptability defined by the riders. Online rider groups on platforms like WhatsApp serve as critical support networks, fostering solidarity and enabling riders to collectively resist challenges. These groups not only provide emotional support but also serve as informal spaces to strategize and navigate the tensions of gender policing.

The study situates these acts of resistance within the broader principles of spatial justice and illustrates how women riders actively contest and redefine public spaces traditionally dominated by men. By occupying these spaces, they resist both forms of gender policing:  surveillance and sexual harassment and actively challenge public perceptions of gender roles and mobility. Furthermore, the study contributes to feminist geography by documenting how women navigate, resist and transform gendered public spaces through resilience and agency.