Gender

Poverty is experienced differently by men and women. A full understanding of the gender dimensions of poverty can significantly change the definition of priority policy and program interventions supported by the PRS. Evidence is growing that gender-sensitive development strategies
contribute significantly to economic growth as well as to equity objectives by ensuring that all groups of the poor share in program benefits. Yet differences between men’s and women’s needs are often not fully recognized in poverty analysis and participatory planning and are frequently not
taken into consideration in the selection and design of PRSs. It is essential, then, to integrate gender analysis into poverty diagnosis and to ensure that participatory consultation and planning processes are specifically designed to give voice to all sectors of society—women and men as well as different age, ethnic, and cultural groups. One of the messages of this chapter is that conventional poverty research and analysis tools can address most gender issues, and when this is not the case, the problem lies mainly in a lack of recognition by policymakers and planners of the importance of gender as a key development issue. If the right questions are asked, conventional poverty research tools can provide most of the gender-related answers; but, as is often the case, if the right questions are not asked, poverty analysis will frequently ignore many of the important gender differences in the experience of poverty.

The chapter contains the four sections described below, in addition to the introduction:

• Section 10.2, "Rationale for Integrating Gender into PRS Processes," provides a rationale in terms of the associated potential efficiency and equity benefits and a framework that describes the gender issues and the different dimensions of poverty.
• Section 10.3, "Integrating Gender Analysis into Poverty Diagnosis," gives an overview of how to integrate gender analysis techniques for data collection and analysis into the poverty diagnosis on which the PRS is built.
• Section 10.4, "Using a Gender-Informed Poverty Analysis in Defining Priority Public Actions in the PRS," offers a step-by-step approach for using a poverty diagnosis to identify key gender gaps and issues that need to be addressed in the PRS, and policy and program interventions that could
  be used in addressing these issues, along with checklists to use in selecting and designing gender-inclusive PRS programs.
• Section 10.5, "Integrating Gender into the PRS Monitoring and Evaluation," suggests how to monitor differences in the ways men and women are involved in selecting, designing, and implementing PRS programs, and how to evaluate gender differences in the outcomes and impacts of these programs.

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