Step 1: How to embed gender equality throughout the fieldwork period – practical advice
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Question and address your own assumptions and biases
Throughout the process of designing and carrying out fieldwork, the evaluation team should consider what assumptions and biases may be influencing their decisions and approach They, and should provide a space (e.g. in team meetings) for these to be openly explored and addressed.
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Include local expertise
Where the evaluation team is unfamiliar with the local environment in which data will be collected, it can be useful to identify local gender experts to help prepare for data collection, to ensure that contexts and cultures are given appropriate consideration.
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Use gender-sensitive language
It is important to ensure that gender-sensitive language is used throughout all interactions with stakeholders and participants, as well as in all reporting. This includes using gender-sensitive language not only in face-to-face or virtual conversations, but also in the invitations to participate, in the information provided about the evaluation and how to participate to enable informed consent, and in all data collection tools such as interview topic guides or surveys.
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Designate the right people to conduct the fieldwork
Those who collect data need the skills and contextual knowledge to do so effectively and respectfully. It may sometimes be advisable for fieldwork to be conducted by someone of the same gender as the participant, to both facilitate access and reduce risks to participants and researchers. Group-based methods, such as focus groups and workshop discussions, require a skilled facilitator to manage group dynamics and enable full participation from all stakeholders, including those most at risk of marginalisation.
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Strive to go further than ‘doing no harm’, by providing a positive and meaningful experience of participation
Feminist evaluators are among those at the forefront of work examining how power influences knowledge construction. An important lesson from this work is that, while more collaborative approaches can bring significant benefits to evaluations and participants alike, they can also, paradoxically, risk disappointment and disillusionment when collaborative relationships end. Transparency about the nature of participation, while always respecting and upholding the dignity of participants, is key to providing a positive and meaningful experience of participation.
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Include a balanced representation of women and men
Careful sampling is needed to ensure that women and men are adequately represented among evaluation participants.