The sacred groves patches of forest that have been preserved on religious and cultural grounds have a significant importance in the conservation of biodiversity, local livelihoods and culture of many mountain communities. In the states of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, dedicated worship sites are interspersed with colourful pilgrimage circuits that lure millions of pilgrims every year. Women are key players in these different regions, they play an important role in the transmission of ritual knowledge, they play a key role in the management of grove based resources, they are also responsible for the provision of services linked to pilgrimages and act as the intermediaries between tradition and modernity in community institutions. The present paper deals with the various activities that women are involved in the management of Sacred Grove and their role in the pilgrimage tourism and compares between sacred grove management in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

The research is performed with the mixed methods comparative case study approach, which combines the secondary literature, policy documents and empirical qualitative data (semi structured interviews, focus group discussions and field observation) from selected sites in both states. The study seeks to explore (a) women's traditional and contemporary role in the protection and management of sacred groves; (b) how women's stewardship in sacred areas affects their socio-economic dimensions through pilgrimage tourism; (c) gendered institutional discourses on women's agency to protection sacred areas including the composition of temple committees, panchayats and the involvement of self-help groups (SHGs) in conserving landscape; and (d) the conflict between conservation norms and tourist commodification of sacred landscape.

Results suggest that women's roles depend on culture, institutionalization, educational and literacy status and market connection. Women's control real or imagined in terms of ritual and informal governance is known mostly in Uttarakhand, whereas in HP women are more conspicuous in cooperatives, homestays and other official institutional bodies of temples. Both states expose the limits of patriarchal norms, restricted access to capital, vulnerability in the seasonality and the absence of policy to promote people's wellbeing but also opportunities for women-led eco-tourism, for heritage interpretations and for diversification of livelihoods for sustainable living. The paper ends with policy proposals to empower women's agency; to incorporate the sacred grove as a component of a community-based tourism; and to establish a gender-sensitive approach to governance that will reflect the importance of cultural integrity while maintaining sustainable development..