Gendered and racialized spaces: Understanding the experiences of women in the New York City community garden environment

This study examines the experiences of women (N=14) in the New York City community garden environment using the conceptual lens of Feminist Political Ecology and Grounded Theory. This approach helps to frame the political and economic changes in NYC and previous accounts of race and class-based biases in the NYC urban agriculture environment. The results show that themes emerging from the gardeners' experiences reflected that most gardens were led by women with a concern for changing their communities through gardening. In spite of these efforts, some gardeners explained that unfavorable policies and limited funding opportunities inhibited their access to garden land. Therefore, the findings of this study may provide some recommendations to future city garden policies in creating more funding opportunities for women in underserved communities. Future research should focus on gendered perspectives of urban agriculture in NYC, because, globally, women make up the majority of urban farmers.