Exploring issues especially concerning women involves many of the difficulties found in evaluating the position of the poorest and most invisible. In addition the paucity of background literature may mean a weaker conceptual framework for providing a check list of enquiries. Nevertheless, there have been common effects of agricultural development projects on women's work and lives which offer hypotheses for testing. Quantitative information is important and a brief RRA needs to concentrate on changes in women's work patterns and terms of access to resources for both their own well‐being and the fulfillment of their roles. Women are often more forthcoming than men and information gathered from them can help to avoid the serious mistakes in planning that have affected them in the past.