Rani Parker. 1993. "Another Point of View: A Manual on Gender Analysis Training for Grassroots Workers." New York: UNIFEM. 

The Gender Analysis Matrix, developed by Rani Parker, [1] is a useful participatory assessment tool to quickly determine how a development intervention will affect men and women from the community perspective. The principles of the Gender Analysis Matrix are: 

• All requisite knowledge for gender analysis exists among the people whose lives are the subject of the analysis.
• Gender analysis does not require the technical expertise of those outside the community being analyzed, except as facilitator.
• Gender analysis cannot be transformative unless the analysis is done by the people being analyzed.[2] 

As such, this tool leverages community expertise as the foundation for the analysis and for use in planning change interventions. The tool aims to analyze program objectives across four levels with women, men, households, and groups in the community, in light of impacts on time, resources, labor practices, time, resources, and socio-cultural factors, such as gender roles and status.   

Strengths of the Gender Analysis Matrix:

• This is a truly participatory process in which stakeholders define program objectives and different categories for analysis.
• The Gender Analysis Matrix is helpful for contextually mapping power relations and identifying sources of inequality, which strengthens background understanding of gender roles, status, and resources in a particular community.
• Focusing on analysis of different stakeholder groups, i.e., men and women or political groups versus community groups, yields community-specific and relevant analysis. 
• Taken together, the group specific analysis provides a multifaceted picture of a program, and demonstrates how addressing diverse needs and hearing multiple perspectives can result in broadened understanding of a program and its intended and unintended outcomes. 
• There is no reliance on external experts or complicated evaluation logic, making it adaptable to a variety of settings.

Weaknesses (or not designed for): 

• Since the focus is not on tracking program processes, it limits the ability to create learning channels to monitor program strategies and outcomes.
• While the focus is primarily on gender analysis and its differential impacts on the community, the analysis is more suitable as a precursor to program planning and development of evaluation and monitoring systems, rather than a standalone assessment system.                                       

[1] Rani Parker. 1993. "Another Point of View: A Manual on Gender Analysis Training for Grassroots Workers." New York: UNIFEM.

[2]Quoted from the Global Development Research Center.