| Résumé: |
This study examined how women’s everyday practices of rooftop gardening (RTG) in Kathmandu Valley intersect with gender roles and intra-household power relations, using a Feminist Political Ecology framework and the concepts of everyday practices, embodiment, and emotions. Women emerged as the main actors in RTG, though food security was seldom the primary motivation; cultural nostalgia and leisure predominated among upper-middle-class Brahmin, Newar, Magar, and Gurung households. Time constraints linked to the double burden of paid and domestic work remained a major limitation, while households with domestic helpers faced fewer obstacles. Participants consistently reported improved physical and emotional well-being, describing rooftop gardens as spaces of pride, relaxation, and autonomy distinct from household obligations. These gardens fostered health awareness, community ties, and digital sharing practices, while offering women personal, voluntary spaces often absent from domestic life. However, RTG did not substantially alter entrenched gender roles or household decision-making, though variations appeared across caste and ethnic groups. Participation in women’s or ward groups occasionally enabled collective empowerment, but rarely shifted household norms. Overall, rooftop gardening appears less as a transformative political practice than as a personal and voluntary form of urban agriculture that nurtures well-being and provides women with autonomous space. Future research should explore collective settings to assess whether such autonomy can extend into broader community participation, leadership, and influence in urban environmental governance. |
Mémoire [4.3 Mo]