Gender-responsive analysis is a systematic tool to examine social and economic differences between women and men. It looks at their specific activities, conditions, needs, access to and control over resources, as well as their access to development benefits and decision-making. It studies these linkages and other factors in the larger social, economic, political and environmental context. Gender-responsive analysis entails, first and foremost, collecting sex-disaggregated data (that is, data broken down by sex) and gender-responsive information about the concerned population. Gender-responsive analysis is the first step in gender-responsive planning to promote gender equality. Gender-responsive analysis is not confined to identifying differences. More importantly, it recognizes the politics of gender relations and the adjustments needed to be undertaken by institutions to attain gender equality. It looks at the inequalities between women and men, asks why they exist, and suggests how the gap can be narrowed. Gender-responsive analysis in the ILO context entails looking at five key variables: (a) The division of labour between women and men; (b) The different needs of women and men; (c) The gender-based division of access to and control over resources and benefits; (d) Opportunities and constraints in the social and economic environment; (e) The capacity of ILO constituents and other partner organizations to promote equality between women and men in employment.