Tools for Gender Analysis and Social Assessment

A. Desk Review
To gather the existing documented information on the specific topic. This tool is very relevant in getting background information on the specific topic. Specifically when implementing Gender Analysis, this tool aims to understand the extent of gender disaggregated data available in the country.

Involves detailed review of relevant documents within the Bank and within the country. This tool provides an introduction to the existing knowledge of the topic within the Bank and the country.

B. Household Interview
To directly gather quantitative information from the beneficiaries on their socio-economic characteristics. The quantitative data thus collected will help to interpret the qualitative data gathered through other sources

Typically household interviews are carried out by quantitative study experts. Interviews include a sequence of focused questions in a fixed order, often with pre-determined, limited options for responses. They are carried out among the direct beneficiaries. The unit of study is the household. An average duration of such an interview is estimated to be one hour.

C. Focus Group Discussion
To openly discuss and build consensus on the perceptions, attitudes and views of the primary stakeholders on the objective and strategy of the proposed project. It also aims to ensure whether the proposed changes are acceptable to them.

FGDs carried out by the qualitative study experts are relatively low cost, small group (four to twelve participants plus facilitator). The participants of FGDs are homogenous, belonging to the same category of the beneficiary population. Separate FGDs with male and female participants are mandatory in order to fully explore gender differences in attitudes, feelings, and preferences. The facilitator should be well experienced in gathering qualitative data to lead FGDs. In addition, the local consultant team leader should ensure that the facilitator has the know-how for how to facilitate equal participation from all its participants. If not, the discussion can get monopolized by a few participants. An average duration of a FGD is 2.–2.5 hours. Care should be taken not to increase the duration of FGDs over three hours as participants tend to loose the focus of the discussion. Light refreshments can be served depending on the location and type of participants of the FGD.

Other tools such as trend analysis, social mapping and day time use analysis can be carried out as part of FGDs to capture information on specific topics of interest.
(Details on these tools are provided in the next section of the table.)

Additional Tools to be Used as Part of Focus Group Discussions:

1. Trend Analysis
To provide a sequence of changes from a chosen period to the current date.

Trend analysis involves requesting participants to discuss various changes that have occurred within the community over a period of time such as role of women in households, rate of labor participation of women, rate of female children attending schools and universities, etc. Often important events are used to identify the period as people often cannot relate if only dates are provided. This tool is carried out as part of the FGD.

2. Day-time Use Analysis
To gather information on the various activities of an individual during a typical day. This tool specifically aims to understand the pattern of behavior of an individual.

Day-time use analysis involves gathering detailed information on the type of activities performed by both male and female beneficiaries. It also documents when these activities are performed and the average time spent on each activity. Specifically, this tool will help in identifying the types of activities typically undertaken by men and women and the average time spent by them on various activities during the course of the day. Some of the typical activities covered include time spent on: (i) collecting water/firewood , (ii) waiting for public transport, (iii) accompanying children to school, (iv) travelling to work place, etc. This tool is carried out as part of FGD.

3. Social Mapping
To provide a visual display of community members’ perceptions of the physical dimension of their community in social and economic terms.

Social Mapping helps to develop:
(i) inventory of resources within the community (types of available roads, modes of transport on these roads, wells, hand pumps, schools, public service buildings, etc);
(ii) inventory of type of households (whether slums/poor or non-poor or both); and
(iii) location of community resources in relation to the households of differing wealth levels.

Maps can be drawn on the ground by the participants or on regular paper. If on the ground, the participants could use different objects like twigs, stones, leaves, etc to differentiate various types of resources, and if on regular paper, the participants could use color markers to differentiate various types of resources. Maps on regular size paper are preferred as they could be included as part of the annex in the specific site report. This tool is carried out as part of the FGD.

D. Direct Observation
To perceive the existing situation in a selected locality.

Simplest of all techniques implemented by the qualitative study. It involves counting, noting behavior and expression, and registering notable facets of a particular development situation. This could be carried out in selected locations that enable the researcher to capture the activities of the beneficiaries on the specific topic.

E. Semi-structured interviews
To provide a forum for one-to-one discussion in a relaxed atmosphere on specific topics with direct beneficiaries and secondary informants. Specifically it aims to provide an opportunity for self-expression to populations who are shy or otherwise resistant to opening up in front of others.

Also called conversational interviews, carried out by the qualitative study experts, provide a framework within which respondents can express their own understanding in their own terms. It is often structured around a number of pre-determined topics. They are structured by interview guide with a limited number of preset questions with the flexibility to elaborate on specific topics if desired by the person interviewed. This kind of guide ensures that the interview remains focused on the development issue while allowing enough conversations so that the participants can introduce and discuss topics that are relevant to them. These tools are deliberate departure from survey-type interviews with lengthy, predetermined questionnaires. These interviews are carried out with secondary informants and direct beneficiaries. The average duration of such an interview is estimated to be one hour.

F. Case Study
To study individual cases relating to the topic. These case studies will help in dramatizing/highlighting problems and issues of an individual or a household within a community.

Case study stories bring out the individual’s or household’s major needs, issues/problems, and their perception of the solution to these problems through conversations in a relaxed atmosphere. This method probes to document the individual’s personal details such as name, place of residence, employment status, marital status, number of children, etc. Sample population will be selected purposively based on the key topic studied. They are undertaken by the qualitative study experts. The average duration of such a conversation can last between 2-2.5 hours depending on the personality of the beneficiary studied.

G. Stakeholder workshops
To provide an open forum to discuss and build consensus and ownership of the field findings and recommendations and thus arrive at an agreement on the next steps. This is a powerful tool for reaching a consensus when there are contradictions among the information gathered from different sources.

Stakeholder workshops are held at the end of fieldwork. All levels of stakeholders are encouraged to participate in the workshops. The workshop is an effective way to discuss common findings in the field, to disseminate the field findings, to create ownership of the findings, and to decide on the next steps. Participants can include both direct and indirect beneficiaries along with government representatives, Bank staff, and NGOs/private organizations. Average duration of these workshops can range from half a day to a full day.

Stakeholder workshops can also be used as the only major tool to discuss and come to consensus on specific topics such as developing transport strategies, monitoring and evaluation of gender issues in project implementation, etc. In this case, a series of such workshops will be carried out in one or more locations on different recommendations from various studies.

Qualitative study experts are responsible for implementing stakeholder workshops.

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Ways to Integrate Gender into Social Assessment Tools

A. Stakeholder Workshops:
Provides an open forum to discuss and build consensus and ownership of the field findings and recommendations and thus arrives at an agreement on the next steps. This is a powerful tool for reaching a consensus when there are contradictions among the information gathered from different sources.
1. Include male and female population in the sample
2. Ensure that discussions address gender relations when asking the following questions:

• Who are the target populations?
• What are their interests in the project or policy?
• What are the power differentials among the various categories of the target population?
• What relative influence do they have on operations?
• Do recommendations address both equity and efficiency?

B. Focus Group Discussion (FGD):

Facilitates open discussions to build consensus on the perceptions, attitudes, and views of the primary stakeholders on the objective and strategy of the proposed project. It also aims to ensure whether the proposed changes are acceptable to them.

• Use men and women facilitators.
• Identify sample needs, priorities, and constraints of both male and female populations.
• Perform additional exercises with men and women in separate groups.
• Schedule focus group meetings, paying attention to men’s and women’s different work schedules.
• Identify and address other constraints to women’s participation, such as childcare, domestic duties, distance, and cultural constraints.

C. Social Mapping Exercise:

Provides a visual display of community members’ perceptions of the physical dimension of their community in social and economic terms. This could be carried out as part of a Focus Group Discussion.

• Use men and women facilitators.
• Gather gender disaggregated data.
• Perform additional exercises with men and women in separate groups.
• Schedule exercises paying attention to work schedules of both men and women.
• Identify perceptions for both men and women of the availability and access to various services within the community.

D. Direct Observation:

Allows an opportunity to perceive the existing situation in a selected locality. Specifically, while in the field, the participant observer looks, listens, asks questions, and documents detailed notes on his/her observations.

• Use men and women participant observers.
• Ensure observations and analysis of existing situation provides a clear insight into gender based differences of all topics covered.

E. Desk Review:

Gathers the existing documented information on the specific topic. This tool is very relevant in getting background information on the specific topic. Specifically when implementing Gender Analysis, this tool specifically aims to understand the extent of gender disaggregated data available in the country.

• Identify availability of data disaggregated by gender.
• If yes, identify areas covered.
• Identify major gaps in the information.
• Gather gender disaggregated data.

F. Semi-structured Interviews:

Provides a forum for one-to-one discussion in a relaxed atmosphere on specific topics with direct beneficiaries and secondary informants. Specifically, it aims to provide an opportunity for self-expression to the part of the population which is shy or otherwise resistant to opening up in front of others.

• Include male and female population in the sample.
• Ensure men and women interviewers.
• Gather gender desegregated data.
• Interview men and women separately.
• Schedule interviews paying attention to men’s and women’s different work schedules.
• Identify and address constraints to women’s participation, such as childcare, domestic duties, distance, and cultural constraints.

The above table is developed from information provided in the following document: Moser Caroline, Annika Tornqvist, and Bernice van Bronkhorst. 1997. Draft of "Mainstreaming Gender into Social Assessments." Washington, DC: World Bank.

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Implications for Developmental Programmes and Projects

The criticality of incorporating gender considerations in any developmental or management action is well acknowledged. Taking this into consideration, the focus and coverage of an initiative is the placing of gender within the context of overall development and management. Within these areas, the coverage of the cross-cutting programme should be gender, environment and technology transfer in developing countries . There can be two complementary and supplementary objectives:

• To mainstream the principles of gender equity and responsiveness in developmental programs and projects.
• To promote gender sensitivity and responsiveness in technology transfer, and in the application, adoption and use of environmentally sound technologies.

The program can be operationalized by outlining the strategies and mechanics of implementation, expected outputs, targets and results and timetable, based on these objectives. Success of a gender initiatives will also rest on links with existing organizations/institutions (international and national) that have gender programmes in order to develop and implement a monitoring system for gender-responsiveness in technology transfer.

Source: http://www.gdrc.org/gender/gender-ests.html

Gender Analysis Matrix

One of the key aspects of a Gender Analysis Framework is a matrix that studies affected stakeholder within a set of categories. It is an analytical tool that uses participatory methodology to facilitate the definition and analysis of gender issues by the communities that are affected by them. Using the Gender Analysis Matrix will provide a unique articulation of issues as well as develop gender analysis capacity from the grassroots level up. The Gender Analysis Matrix is based on the following principles:

• All requisite knowledge for gender analysis exists among the people whose lives are the subject of the analysis.
• Gender analysis does not require the technical expertise of those outside the community being analysed, except as facilitators.
• Gender analysis cannot be transformative unless the analysis is done by the people being analyzed.

• Labour: This refers to changes in tasks, level of skill required (skilled versus unskilled, formal education, training) and labour capacity (how many people and how much they can do; do people need to be hired or can members of the household do it?).
• Time: This refers to changes in the amount of time (3 hours, 4 days, and so on) it takes to carry out the task associated with the project or activity.
• Resources: This refers to the changes in access to capital (income, land, credit) as a consequence of the project, and the extent of control over changes in resources (more or less) for each level of analysis.
• Culture: Cultural factors refer to changes in social aspects of the participants' lives (changes in gender roles or status) as a result of the project.

Sumber: http://www.gdrc.org/gender/gender-ests.html

Some Principles of Gender Analysis

Implementing Gender Equality in Organizations

An analysis of gender equity policies in an organization and elsewhere has resulted in the conclusion that, while no single defined set of principles exists, the following are important elements of a conceptual framework:

1. Accountability
From a management point of view, accountability tends to revolve around different processes. In a mature equity culture, accountability for equity issues is not be singled out for attention. However, the culture to date tolerated comments of the kind that "it is someone else's responsibility" or "that's what the gender unit is for". Until there is more mainstreaming of responsibilities accompanied by accountability, only the committed few will fully carry out those responsibilities, and only restricted outcomes will be possible. In order to overcome this difficulty, a wider framework for gender equity responsibilities across an organization needs to be established to promote stronger forms of accountability. It is also essential that staff in management and supervisory roles accept responsibility for gender equity policies and practices within their units.

2. Comparability
While there are no gender equity absolutes, comparison is a strong mechanism to lift the performance of like institutions. The benefit arises from sharing statistical data, policy and practices.The adoption of this principle involves policy and best practice at other organizations and comparative data analysed. Benchmarking with other organizations, particularly in terms of staffing profiles, can be a valuable tool in assessing progress in various areas. Gathering information on policy and practice elsewhere is likely to assist, for instance, in identifying successful ways of increasing the number of women on committees and enhancing the career prospects of women.

3. Networking
The absence of an effective internal gender equity network can result in two undesirable consequences. Firstly, inequities due to lack of knowledge about opportunities can flourish and secondly, the effectiveness of the system in drawing the organization's attention to such inequities is diminished. Networking within the organization can therefore be enhanced with the aim of furthering staff awareness, understanding of, and commitment to, gender policies, principles and practice.This can include an organization-wide information capture, the establishment of communications mechanisms to ensure that the organization is aware of, and responsive to, the needs of its staff, and grievance advice.

4. Cultural Values
This is probably the most important and wide-ranging of the principles. By focussing on its cultural values, the organization can have the opportunity to identify possible improvements. It is only by addressing cultural values that the core business of the organization will be seen from a equity standpoint. Policies, procedures and education programs need to be developed, implemented on an integrated basis and evaluated to promote workplace attitudes towards gender equity. Diverse issues in relation to gender equity needs to be examined in consultation with all staff and information on best practice promulgated. One strategy can be to include gender equity in the terms of reference of the organization's reviews.

5. Strategies
The four areas listed above constitute major focal points for considering the health of the organization with regard to gender issues. In Strategies, a fifth principle is added.This captures the organization's commitment to developing knowledge and understanding of how the system can be changed in order to meet overall equity objectives. Under this members of the organization are empowered through knowledge of existing strategies. New programs which identify and address inequalities, special needs and the status of women in relation to employment at all levels also need to be established and evaluated.

Source: The ANU Gender Equity Plan in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/framework/principles.html

Gender Analysis Framework

The gender analysis framework has four parts and is carried out in two main steps. First, information is collected for the Activity Profile and the Access and Control Profile. Then this information is used in the analysis of factors and trends influencing activities and access and control, and in the project cycle analysis.




Activity Profile
Who does what? What men and women (adults, children, elders) do, and where and when these activities take place.

The planner needs to know the tasks of men and women in the population subgroups in the project area to be able to direct project activities toward those performing particular tasks. Therefore, data must be gathered on women‘s and men’s involvement in each stage of the agricultural cycle, on their shared as well as unshared tasks, and on the degree of fixity of the gender division of labor. The objective is to ensure that women are actively included in the project and are not disadvantaged by it.

The Activity Profile usually considers all categories of activities: productive, reproductive,1 community-related service. It identifies how much time is spent on each activity, how often this work is done (e.g., daily or seasonally), which periods are characterized by a high demand for labor, and what extra demands the program inputs will make on women, men, and children.

The Activity Profile also identifies where the activities take place, at home or elsewhere (the village, marketplace, fields, or urban centers), and how far these places are from the household. This information gives insights into female and male mobility, and allows an assessment of the impact of the program on mobility, method of travel, travel time for each activity, and potential ways of saving time.

Issues considered under Activity Profile include:

• Production of goods and services
• Reproductive and human resource maintenance activities
• Community work
• Community organization and activities

Access and Control Profile
Who has what? Who has access to and control of resources, and decision making.

The Access and Control Profile considers productive resources such as: land, equipment, labor, capital and credit, and education, and training. It differentiates between access to a resource and control over decisions regarding its allocation and use. It enables planners to consider whether the proposed project could undermine access to productive resources, or if it could change the balance of power between men and women regarding control over resources.

The profile examines the extent to which women are impeded from participating equitably in projects. For example, if women have limited access to income or land, they may be unable to join groups, which provide production inputs and commercial opportunities, or to become independent commercial producers. In some subgroups, men may also suffer the same disadvantage.

Program management mechanisms (e.g., the creation of water users) groups or cooperatives) may determine who has access to and control over productive resources and may change existing gender relations.

Analysis of Factors and Trends
What is the socio-economic context? How activity, access, and control patterns are shaped by structural factors (demographic, economic, legal, and institutional) and by cultural, religious, and attitudinal ones.

This analysis considers the structural and socio-cultural factors that influence the gender patterns of activity and access and control in the project area:

• demographic factors, including household composition and household headship;
• general economic conditions, such as poverty levels, inflation rates, income distribution, internal terms of trade, and infrastructure;
• cultural and religious factors;
• education levels and gender participation rates; and
• political, institutional, and legal factors.

The analysis should consider the following:

Which policies and programs aimed at ensuring women’s participation could affect the project?

Which community norms and beliefs could influence women’s participation in the project’s activities?

Are there laws or regulations that could affect women’s participation in the project or their access to its benefits?

Program Cycle Analysis
What gender considerations are needed for the project? Gender-sensitive project planning, design, implementation, monitoring, and post-evaluation.

This analysis will indicate if and where the objectives and methods proposed for the project should be modified to improve the chances that the project will succeed and to minimize the likelihood that women will be disadvantaged as a result of it.

Some questions that may need to be considered in this analysis deal with production processes, training, information, participation, access, institution building, project framework etc.

Particularly within the Project framework, the following issues need to be considered:

• Do the planning assumptions (at each level of the planning framework or logical framework, for example) adequately reflect the constraints on women’s participation in the program?
• Do project performance indicators identify the need for data to be collected, disaggregated by gender? Will changes in the gender division of labor be monitored? Will data on women’s access to and control over resources be collected during the project?
• Can the project meet both practical gender needs (supporting and improving the efficiency of women’s and men’s productive roles) and strategic gender needs (improving gender equity through women’s participation in the project)?
• Do the goals, purposes, or objectives of the program explicitly refer to women or reflect women’s needs and priorities?
• Do the project inputs identify opportunities for female participation in program management, in the delivery and community management of goods and services, in any planned institutional changes, in training opportunities, and in the monitoring of resources and benefits? Will the project resources be relevant and accessible to poor women in terms of personnel, location, and timing?
• Does the project include measurable indices for the attainment of its GAD objectives, to facilitate monitoring and post-evaluation?

Source: Adopted from ADB 2002, "Gender Checklist - Agriculture" in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/framework/g-framework.html

Why Gender Analysis?

Several different Gender Analysis Frameworks exist today. They are step-by-step tools for carrying out gender analysis, which help to raise questions, analyze information, and develop strategies to increase women's and men's participation in and benefits from forestry programmes.

Gender Analysis Frameworks are concerned with:
1. The development context or patters in an area, answering the questions What is getting better? What is getting worse?
2. Women's and men's activities and roles in the forestry sectors, answering the questions Who does what?
3. Women's and men's access to and control over resources, answering the questions. Who has what? Who needs what?, and
4. The forestry programme actions needed, answering the questions What should be done to close the gaps between what women, and men need? What does development deliver?

Gender Analysis can be used for example in the following situations:

• development of village level forest management plans to ensure that the contributions of both women and men are adequately recognized in determining access to and control over resources
• development, or review, of forestry policy to ensure sustainable forestry through equitable participation of all stakeholders
• profiling of stakeholders to develop an understanding of who the stakeholders in the forestry sector are beyond gender to other socially determined characteristics.
• restructuring of the forestry sector to ensure equitable participation at all levels and in a diversity of functions by both women and men.
• development of criteria for training selection or recruitment to ensure that women and men have equal opportunities to progress in their career and that there are both women and men working in diversity of capacities in the sector to work with the women and men of the other stakeholder groups.

Source: FAO, "Gender issues in the Zambia Forestry Action Programme" (1997) in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/framework/why.html

What is Gender Analysis?

Gender analysis:

• examines the differences in women's and men's lives, including those which lead to social and economic inequity for women, and applies this understanding to policy development and service delivery
• is concerned with the underlying causes of these inequities
• aims to achieve positive change for women.

The term 'gender' refers to the social construction of female and male identity. It can be defined as 'more than biological differences between men and women. It includes the ways in which those differences, whether real or perceived, have been valued, used and relied upon to classify women and men and to assign roles and expectations to them. The significance of this is that the lives and experiences of women and men, including their experience of the legal system, occur within complex sets of differing social and cultural expectations'.

Gender analysis recognises that:

• women's and men's lives and therefore experiences, needs, issues and priorities are different
• women's lives are not all the same; the interests that women have in common may be determined as much by their social position or their ethnic identity as by the fact they are women
• women's life experiences, needs, issues and priorities are different for different ethnic groups
• the life experiences, needs, issues, and priorities vary for different groups of women (dependent on age, ethnicity, disability, income levels, employment status, marital status, sexual orientation and whether they have dependants)
• different strategies may be necessary to achieve equitable outcomes for women and men and different groups of women

Gender analysis aims to achieve equity, rather than equality.

Gender equality is based on the premise that women and men should be treated in the same way. This fails to recognise that equal treatment will not produce equitable results, because women and men have different life experiences.

Gender equity takes into consideration the differences in women's and men's lives and recognises that different approaches may be needed to produce outcomes that are equitable.

Gender analysis provides a basis for robust analysis of the differences between women's and men's lives, and this removes the possibility of analysis being based on incorrect assumptions and stereotypes.

Source: Ministry of Women's Affairs, New Zealand in http://www.gdrc.org/gender/framework/what-is.html