The current interest in gender at the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) is an opportunity to develop the capacity of CIFOR scientists to integrate gender issues into research. Several internal and external factors drive the interest in gender. Over the past few years CIFOR has created a dialogue and community of practice around gender. Gender is a cross-cutting issue in CIFOR’s most recent medium term plan (2009-2012). At the same time, External Programme and Management Reviews, Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) initiatives and donors point to the need to pay more attention to gender issues. This manual...

Gender refers to the economic, political and cultural attributes associated with being a man or a woman. These attributes vary both across and within countries and change over time (Box 2). Gender differs from sex, which refers to universal biological characteristics that differentiate males and females according to biology and reproductive characteristics. Although the terms are often used interchangeably, it is important for analytical purposes to distinguish between them. Categories based on sex do not change. Categorisation based on gender, however, allows for recognition of the social changes that occur in households and communities over time.

When we hear the...

Part II of the manual provides guidance to researchers interested in understanding how to integrate elements of gender analysis into their research or fine tune their current strategies. There is an abundance of resources available to researchers and practitioners on how to conduct a gender analysis. This section draws on a fraction of that literature. Readers can consult additional resources to complement the information provided here.

The next section is organised as follows:

Guiding principles provides good practices for integrating gender analysis into research

Identifying gender dimensions of forestry research reviews gender related questions provided in Part I

Designing and...