ABSTRACT
An important underlying rationale of gender planning concerns the fact that men and women not only play different roles in society, with distinct levels of control over resources, but that they therefore often have different needs. This chapter provides a description of the concept of gender interests and its translation into planning terms as gender needs. It identifies the important distinction between practical and strategic gender needs. A brief description follows of the way the state in different political contexts effectively controls women's strategic gender needs through family policy relating to domestic violence, reproductive rights, legal status and welfare policy. The usefulness of these gender planning tools is then examined in terms of several interventions in different planning sectors.
