InternationalLabour Organization
SEAPAT
South-East Asia and the Pacific Multidisciplinary Advisory Team

Unit 1: A conceptual framework for gender analysis and planning

Tool: Identification of needs profile

In doing gender analysis, planners obtain information about the gender needs of men and women in the given community. They then determine whether these needs are practical or strategic in nature.
 

Practical gender needs (PGNs)

are the needs women identify in their socially accepted roles in society. PGNs do not challenge, although they arise out of, gender divisions of labour and women’s subordinate position in society. PGNs are a response to immediate perceived necessity, identified within a specific context. They are practical in nature and often inadequacies in living conditions such as water provision, health care and employment.

Strategic gender needs (SGNs)

are the needs women identify because of their subordinate position in society. They vary according to particular contexts, related to gender divisions of labour, power and control, and may include such issues as legal rights, domestic violence, equal wages, and women’s control over their bodies. Meeting SGNs assists women to achieve greater equality and change existing roles, thereby challenging women’s subordinate position.

The identification of needs profile is a tool to help identify these gender-based patterns.
 

Identification of needs profile
Identified needs  (in order of priority)	Women's needs	Practical needs	Strategic needs

[From Gender Issues in the World of Work: Gender Training Package, ILO, Geneva, 1995.]

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