Introduction to Gender Analysis

What is Gender Analysis?

Gender analysis is a systematic way of examining the differences in roles and norms for women and men, girls and boys; the different levels of power they hold; their differing needs, constraints, and opportunities; and the impact of these differences in their lives.

- Adapted from Canadian International Development Agency

How Does Gender Analysis Help Us Design and Manage Better Health

Programs?

Through data collection and analysis, gender analysis identifies and interprets:

• The consequences of gender differences and relations for achieving health objectives

• How health interventions may influence or change relations of power between women and men

Different Approaches, But Two Fundamental Questions

• How will the different roles and status of women and men affect the work to be undertaken?

• How will anticipated results of the work affect women and men differently?

Examine different domains of gender relations:

Practices, Roles, and Participation

Knowledge, Beliefs, and Perceptions (some of which are norms)

Access to Resources

Legal Rights and Status

To Understand Gender Relations, Many Gender Analyses . . .

Practices, Roles, and Participation

Gender structures peoples’ behaviors and actions --what they do (Practices), the way they carry out what they do (Roles), and how and where they spend their time (Participation).

Participation in

•Activities•Meetings•Political Processes•Services•Training Courses

2004 Bangladesh Center for Communication Programs, Courtesy of Photoshare

Knowledge, Beliefs, and Perceptions (Some of Which are Norms)

• Knowledge that men and women are privy to—Who knows what

• Beliefs (ideology) about how men and women and boys and girls should conduct their daily lives

• Perceptions that guide how people interpret aspects of their lives differently depending on their gender identity

2005 Kevin McNulty, Courtesy of Photoshare

Assets:

• Natural & productive resources

• Information• Education• Social capital• Income• Services• Employment• Benefits

The capacity to access resources necessary to be a fully active and productive (socially, economically, and politically) participant in society.

Access to Assets

2007 Farah Riaz, Courtesy of Photoshare

Legal Rights and Status

Refers to how gender affects the way people are regarded and treated by both customary law and the formal legal code and judicial system.

Rights to • Inheritance• Legal Documents

• Identity cards• Property titles• Voter registration

• Reproductive Choice• Representation• Due Process

Power

• Controlling (acquiring and disposing of) resources• Valuing certain knowledge more than other knowledge• One’s body (sexual behaviors and reproductive choice)• Children • Choice of occupation and participation in activities• Affairs of the household, community, municipality,

and state• Voting, running for office, and legislating• Entering into legal contracts• Moving about and associating with others

Gender relations influence people’s ability to freely decide, influence, control, enforce, and engage in collective actions.

To exercise decisions about

In Short, Gender Analysis Reveals Gender- Based Opportunities and Constraints

Gender-based Constraints are gender relations (in different domains) that inhibit either men’s or women’s access to resources or opportunities of any type.

Gender-based Opportunitiesare gender relations (in different domains) that facilitate men’s or women’s access to resources or opportunities of any type.

Different Contexts

Social relationships• Partnerships • Households• Communities• Civil society and governmental

organizations/institutions

And remember: gender constraints and opportunities need to be investigated in specific contexts, as they vary over time and across

Sociocultural contexts• Ethnicity• Class• Race• Residence• Age

Sources of Data

Primary • Interviews—individual and group• Participatory research • Surveys

Secondary • Gender assessments—country or topic• Local organizations and partners • International grey literature• Published articles

Experiences of those most affected and their advocates.

Sex-Disaggregated Data

To move to a gender analysis:

1.Examine sex-disaggregated quantitative data to identify notable issues/patterns

2. Identify the principal practices that are producing the issues

3.Analyze the gender relations that shape these practices

Important to, but not the same as, a gender analysis...