The trap of community averages : report on a PRA and gender workshop

This brief overview of a workshop on PRA and Gender held at IDS begins with the "unfortunate and astonishing" observation that "PRA so rarely incorporates a thorough gender-differentiated analysis". Since 1991, PRA has been more shaped by gender issues, resulting in a literature dealing with three main sets of issues: i) practical - is PRA "equally amenable for use by women and by men?" ii) analytical - "what understanding of gender is used to guide PRA?" iii) institutional - "how does the institution deal with the findings" of gender-sensitive PRA? The workshop raised experiences from diverse countries : this report summarises the issues discussed rather than presenting any case-studies.