This article considers the working lives of women who drive electric rickshaws, known as tempos, in Kathmandu, Nepal. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork, the author examines drivers’ precarious working conditions and the strategies they use in an effort to secure better conditions and job security. This case study illuminates the particulars of women tempo drivers’ day‐to‐day experiences and also speaks to larger debates in feminist political economy surrounding women's entrance into the paid labour force, especially in South Asia. Women drivers provide a compelling example of how socio‐economically disadvantaged women in industrializing and urbanizing cities of the global South find ways to create and protect spaces of dignified work and worker solidarity despite myriad challenges. Evidence from the research suggests that both informal and more formalized coping and resistance strategies are important mechanisms through which women seek to change the terms of their labour.

中文翻译：

---

“在我们吃灰尘的职业中”：尼泊尔女性城市交通工人之间的非正式和正式团结

本文考虑了在尼泊尔加德满都驾驶电动人力车（称为节奏）的妇女的工作生活。作者利用人种学的现场调查研究了驾驶员不稳定的工作条件以及他们为确保更好的条件和工作安全而使用的策略。该案例研究阐明了女性节拍驾驶员的日常经历的特点，并且还谈到了女权主义政治经济学中围绕妇女进入有薪劳动力特别是南亚地区的更大辩论。女司机提供了一个令人信服的例子，说明尽管面临诸多挑战，但在全球南方的工业化和城市化城市中，处于社会经济不利地位的妇女如何找到方法来创造和保护有尊严的工作和工人团结的空间。