Methods for gender analysis
How do we Evaluate Programmes?
See also:
used in PPA
In the context of the PPA, gender refers to the socially ascribed roles of men
and women. The concern for the research teams here will be with identifying
and discussing differences in vulnerability among men and women, and how
what are “normally” called male and female tasks and behaviours relate to
these. As will be observed from the research, women men, girls and boys
perform different roles. They also face different problems and opportunities
because of those roles. Socially defined roles are learnt over time and vary
from culture to culture. However, in most cultures women and girls have
lower positions and less power than men and boys. This may have both direct
and indirect implications of poverty on women.
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PPA will thus lay special emphasis on deepening understanding of gender and
poverty relations. Focus on:
the ways men and women experience vulnerability to poverty, including
causes and manifestations
the role of intra-household inequalities and processes in determining
poverty
the part played by power relations in the community and wider society
gender issues among specific categories of the poor (youth, disabled, etc.)
The following questions may also be a useful guide:
Why do men’s and women’s priority concerns seem to be different?
How much inequality and deprivation on different dimensions is hidden
when the focus is on poor and rich households or communities?
Are women’s lives made poorer mainly by their own husbands, by
particular circumstances? If so, which are these?
In terms of vulnerability, what does it mean to be both disabled and female,
or a youth and female, or elderly and female, or a member of an ethnic
minority and female? etc.
Are the gender issues different among people experiencing different
livelihoods, such as pastoralists or cultivators? etc.
How do institutions and policies help or hinder women’s efforts to improve
conditions for themselves and their children?
5.12. Tools for Gender Analysis
Three of the better known PLA tools to help communities understand better how
men, women, boys and girls relate in society and how this promotes or retards
development are:
(1) activity profiles;
(2) access and control profiles; and
(3) and influencing factors.
5.12.1. Activity profiles and their purpose
Activity profiles are similar to calendars, for gender analysis. Different activities
performed by women are compared to men and boys to girls. Details are analysed
showing where, and how frequently the activities are done. The analysis forms the
basis of identifying who has a heavier workload or responsibilities and why?
Steps in making Activity Profiles
1. Bring the community together and explain that the purpose of
making activity profiles is to help in understanding and comparing
workloads and responsibilities between men, women, boys and
girls.
2. Decide as a team if there is a specific topic or problem that you
would like to focus on in doing the activity profile, for example,
fishing, cattle-keeping, farming, etc.
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3. Decide, again with the team, if you need to subdivide the men and
women into further categories (e.g. elderly and youth or children
and adults).
4. Form a circle around a bare sport of ground or put a large sheet of
paper where everyone can see it. Ask the group to list all the
activities men, women, boys and girls do in an outside the home.
Have them use different local materials to represent different tasks:
or have them use symbols, or write on the chart paper.
5. Allow the discussion to progress by itself, with minimum
interruption. From time to time use the questions you prepared in
advance to encourage community members to identify activities
that they may have forgotten or simply ignored. Key questions here
may be: “What else do only women or only men do? How much
time does this take? How often must it be done?”
6. Encourage people to explain why only men or only women or only
boys or only girls must do these tasks (e.g. custom, superstition,
strength etc.).
7. After the profiles have been completed, look at the general picture
it makes and encourage discussion of equality, burdens and
opportunities (e.g. "which group or sex does more work than the
other? Why should this be so?).
8. Bring the groups together to compare profiles. Ask whether any
group underestimated the others activities? Discuss whether men
or women boys or girls have more less or equal burdens. Also
encourage the people to think about what all this means and what
could be done by the community to solve problems related to
gender roles.
9. Identify a member of the community to help copy what has been
done from the ground onto paper for the community to use and
keep. Make an extra copy for the field research team.
Things to note:
Assign roles to each team member (facilitator, small group leaders,
translator if needed, recorder, etc.) and plan how you will each help guide
community participants in using the activity profile, the access and control
profile and the influence factors tool.
Discuss whether you need to translate difficult terms into the local language
(e.g. "gender", "analysis", "profile" access, etc.) and agree on the terms.
Plan for what local materials you may need to carry out the exercise, for
example sticks stones, leaves, seeds, etc.
Listen carefully to the discussion that goes on as the activity profile is being
developed. This may give you some insights into the reasons why roles are
ascribed in one way or the other.
Examples of possible questions in making activity profiles
What are typical activities (jobs, work, responsibility) that women alone do
in the community? What activities do men alone do? What activities do
boys do? What is done by girls? What is typically done by either sex?
How frequently and when are these activities done (by season, proportion
of the day or month, etc.?)
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What are the problems faced in undertaking these activities?
Why are these activities done exclusively by men, women, boys or girls
5.12.2. Access and Control Profiles and their purpose
The main objective of Access and Control profiles is to enable communities and
researchers to look at the resources that are required for undertaking the activities
that are shown in the activity profile by men, women, boys and girls. The access
and control profile helps the communities to examine the difference in who has
the right to and who has control over resources, as well as which group benefits
from the named activities.
By making access and control profiles, the communities may become more aware
of the inequality in power between groups. It may help them identify constraints
faced by men, women, boys and Girls just because of their gender.
Steps in making access and control profiles.
1. First, agree with team members or the community if there is a specific topic or
problem on which analysis of the access and control profile needs to be made
(this will naturally follow from the activity profile that was described above).
2. Develop an appropriate list of questions for the analysis.
3. Bring the community together and explain the purpose of making access and
control profiles (to help communities and researchers to understand who is
control of the resources needed for specific activities).
4. Divide into smaller groups of men, women, boys and girls as was the case
with preparation of the activity profile.
5. Review the list of activities from the activity profile. This time ask the group
to list all the resources that men, women, boys and girls need in order for them
to carry out their different activities.
6. Then ask, “Who controls the resources that are needed?”
7. Stand back and let the people complete their own access and control profile.
Use the questions you prepared in advance to encourage and keep on the
subject.
8. After making the access and control profile, discuss the results with
community and team members.
Possible questions to help with development of access and control profile:
What resources (money, time, tools, credit, transport, labour, permission of
making decisions, machinery or Equipment, food, etc) are needed to do the
activities that women do?
What resources are needed to do the activities that men and boys do?
For each resource, who has control over the resource?
How does lack of access to the resource by the person who needs it affect
the activity?
Why are some resources not in the control of the person who needs to use
it?
What have been the changes in access and control over the last 10-15
years?
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5.12.3. Influencing Factors
Influence is “the power which people have over others to behave in a particular
way. In gender analysis the tool of influencing factors enables us to understand
people, events or situations that have caused differences in what men and women
do and how they behave.
With the influencing factor tool, researchers and community members can become
more aware of the existence and origins of gender roles, how roles, access and
control have evolved or changed over time, and what possibilities exist for change
in the future.
Steps in looking for influencing factors in Activities, Access and Control.
1. After making Access and Control Profiles, team members should develop
a list of questions to bring out the influencing factors on gender activities,
access and control.
2. Bring the community together and explain the purpose of looking at
influencing factors on gender activities, access and control.
3. Divide the community into smaller groups of men and women (and by age
if needed).
4. Review the lists of activities from the activity profile. This time ask the
group what activities did only men or only women do in the past, what
control did they have, etc? What changed over time, and why?
5. Stand back and let the group complete their own influencing factors list.
6. After the different groups (men and women) have completed, bring them
together for a discussion of changes over time and the reasons why.
7. Bring the men and women’s groups together to compare their ideas.
Compare whether men reported more or less the same as women or were
their ideas different about the past?
8. Encourage the people to think of what could be done by the community to
solve problems related to gender related activities, access and control.
9. Ask one community member to copy the visual from the ground onto
paper for the community to use and keep, and make an extra copy for the
research team.
Examples of questions to help identify influencing factors
What roles or activities did only men perform in the past? What roles or
activities did only women perform in the past?
What access and control did only men have in the past? What access and
control did only women have in the past?
What roles/activities and access/control are different now?
What has contributed to this change?
What problems have these changes caused? What opportunities have these
changes caused?
To what extent are roles and activities changing for today’s youth, either
for better or for worse?
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Analysis of gender relations
a) The collected data should help you to arrive at some logical
conclusions. The above questions were exploratory. Analysis helps you
to arrive at conclusions from many of the diagrams you have drawn so
far.
b) You proceed to ask what does it mean for a man to work for much less
hours than his wife daily? How many hours cumulatively per week,
month and year? What does that mean income wise and power
elations?
c) You proceed to help men to challenge themselves as to whether this is
actually how they want to be understood by their families and their
government or whether it is a problem they need to deal with? Etc.
5.12.4. Well Being Analysis and its purpose
Well-being Analysis (sometimes simply referred to as Wealth Ranking) can be
used to investigate perceptions of wealth differences and inequalities in a
community, to discover local indicators and criteria of wealth and well-being,
and to establish the relative wealth of households in the community. The term
‘well-being’ is often used, since perceptions of wealth usually include noneconomic
criteria.
The tool is done by making a list of all households and asking different people
to sort them into categories according to their own criteria of ‘wealth’. There
is no “right” number of categories, and communities should always be left to
determine their own categories using their own criteria. However it is unlikely
that such categories will be more than five at the most.
A well being analysis is thus a participatory tool to help communities and
researchers identify their most disadvantaged members. It is useful in
identifying local indicators of well being, and planning for different levels of
support needed for different groups people.
Steps in making a Well Being Analysis
1. First, the research team working together with selected Key informants from
the community should constitute themselves into a Well-Being Analysis team.
The key informants should have a general knowledge of their neighbours, such
as members of households, their average incomes, what they own, and their
problems. Key informants should be men and women, and from different
social and economic levels.
2. Assign roles for the team (facilitator, group leader, recorder, key informants,
etc), and discuss whether during the exercise translation will be needed.
3. Plan for what local materials will be used (sticks, stones, leaves, seeds, etc.)
and/or “imported” materials (cards or small pieces of paper, marking pens,
notebooks, etc.).
4. Explain to the key informants what the purpose of a well being analysis is.
Expla in that to identify the most disadvantaged households, and to make
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development plans they will need to look at the relative well being of
households in their community.
5. Make a list of all households. Write the names of the heads of households on
separate cards or pieces of paper, or use local materials to represent each
household. Use information provided by key community informants and cross
referenced to the social map where this exists.
6. Ask the key informants to identify indicators of “well being” or “wealth” (e.g.
“What are your measures for how well off a household is?”). In a few
instances the key informants might need some prompting on, say, signs of
being well off in the community (Examples: land, vehicle, shop, household
size and composition, cash income, expenditure, access to loans, livestock,
plot size, number of wives and children, etc.)
7. For each indicator, ask the informants to identify a different local material, or
write a symbol or word on a chit of paper to represent it.
8. Ask the key informants to group the households into the categories that they
agreed earlier, such as “very rich”, “better off/wealthy”, “well to do/middle
class/OK” and “poor”. Allow them to make adjustments as needed.
9. Discuss: “What makes the difference between households in each category?
Is it possible for households from one category to “travel” to another) become
wealthier or poorer)? What are the common causes for travelling downwards
into poverty? What does the community need (both material and nonmaterial)
to enable households to travel upwards and become better-off?”
10. Establish what the trends have been like in the last 10-15 years.
Things to note:
Do not rush to engage the community in a Well-Being Analysis before
adequate rapport has been established. Wait until you have gained the trust
of the community before using the tool.
Do not equate “poverty” with “laziness” or “dirtiness” or anything
judgmental!
Be sensitive and confidential in asking about wealth and poverty.
Accept local key informant’s ideas about what constitutes “well being
5.12.5. Venn diagrams and their purpose
Venn diagrams can be used to show the key institutions and individuals in a
community and their relationships and importance for decision-making.
Different circles indicate the institutions and individuals. When they touch,
information passes between them. If they overlap a little there is some
cooperation in decision-making. If they overlap a lot there is considerable
cooperation in decision-making.
A Venn diagram is a PRA tool to help people understand how organizations in
their community are related to each other to help with common issues.
Examples of organizations include church groups, youth groups, cooperatives,
Women Councils, Local Councils, etc.
Thus the diagrams can be used to reveal the most important and least
important organizations in the community, their responsibility for and their
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ability to help the community with specific issues. They can also show
relationships among community organizations and the relationship between
the community and outside organizations.
Steps in making a Venn diagram
1. Discuss the purpose of making a Venn diagram, namely to help community
members and researchers to look at local and outside community institutions,
and see to how they do or don’t work together to meet the community’s needs.
2. Assign roles to each team member (facilitator, translator if needed, recorder,
etc)
3. Agree with the community what specific topic or issue that you want to focus
on, and develop a list of questions. For example a Venn diagram may be
drawn for development of an agricultural programme in a community, or for
planning a community water project.
4. Find out from the community “Which organizations, in and outside the
community are responsible for (for example: supplying seedlings, providing
agricultural extension services, marketing, etc).
5. Establish which of these are “more important” or “less important”
organizations and why.
6. Explain that a circle will represent each organization they have mentioned.
The more important the organization, the larger the circle should be.
7. Ask a community member to draw a large circle on the ground and label it
with the name of the most important organization.
8. Ask, “Which is the next most important organization? How important is it?
Does this organization work with, report to or communicate with the first one?
A lot or a little?” Remind people that the size of the circle shows how
important the organization is. Explain that where organizations or people are
related to each other, their respective circles should be shown touching: the
more they co-operate in taking decisions, the more their circles should
overlap. If there is not communication or collaboration, the circles should not
be shown touching each other.
9. Ask, Which is the next most important organization? How important is it?
Does this organization work with the first one? A lot or a little?”
10. Keep asking this until all organizations have been drawn.
11. Allow community members to change the size and position of the circles on
the ground as needed, and as they go along.
12. After the diagram is completed, ask the people “Who has the biggest and
smallest voice regarding the issue? Is this good or bad?” ask, “Are the
linkages between the organizations too much or too little? Why is this so?
Can anything be done about this?”
13. Ask one of the community members to copy the diagram from the ground on
to paper for the community to use and keep. Make an extra copy for the
research team.
5.13 Sequencing Methods
In order to obtain maximum benefit from any participatory research, serious
consideration should be given to not only the tools or methods
Just as the rationale for using one method or another to a large extent depends on the
type of information that is required so does sequencing depends on the broad
objectives of key stages in the participatory research process.
For ease of discussion the participatory research process may be divided into five
main stages, namely: introduction, preliminary investigation, more detailed
investigation, analysis and conclusion. By its very nature each of these stages invites
the use of a particular set of methods, as is shown below.
In a real research situation the stages outlined above are not always as clear-cut as has
been depicted. Often there are overlaps between stages and hence in the use of
methods. Overall, however, the logic is that the first stages of the research will be
introductory, followed by exploration and detailed analysis, followed by conclusions
and drawing of summaries.
On a day-to-day basis different teams will allocate different amounts of time to the
key stages in the research process. The following example is only an illustration of
how, say, time could be allocated for a 10-day field exercise. Each team should agree
on how much time they wish to allocate to key activities.
Other resources:
Oxfam: Why is attention to gender equality important in humanitarian work?