The roles of men and women in existing societies and institutions are generally different. Thus, their needs vary accordingly. Two types of needs are usually identified: Practical needs arise from the actual conditions which women and men experience because of the gender roles assigned to them in society. They are often related to women as mothers, homemakers and providers of basic needs, and are concerned with inadequacies in living and working conditions, such as food, water, shelter, income, health care and employment. For women and men in the lower socioeconomic strata, these needs are often linked to survival strategies. Addressing them alone only perpetuates the factors which keep women in a disadvantaged position in their societies. It does not promote gender equality. Strategic needs are the needs required to overcome the subordinate position of women to men in society, and relate to the empowerment of women. They vary according to the particular social, economic and political context in which they are formulated. Usually they concern equality issues such as enabling women to have equal access to job opportunities and training, equal pay for work of equal value, rights to land and other capital assets, prevention of sexual harassment at work and domestic violence, and freedom of choice over childbearing. Addressing them entails a slow transformation of the traditional customs and conventions of a society.