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Shine YOUR Light ~ Learn More About Women's Literacy

Literacy Nearly a billion people in eh world are illiterate, about two-thirds of whom are women. Generalized illiteracy is mostly a function of poverty and limited education opportunity. Higher rates of illiteracy for women, however, also suggest entrenched gender discrimination. Some of the gender-specific factors that produce height rates of women’s illiteracy include: the time overburdening of women, especially in rural areas; the restriction of girls and women to the domestic sphere; and resistance from men who fear losing their domestic power if women become literate. Illiteracy diminishes women’s economic well-being, increases their dependence on men, reinforces their ties to the domestic sphere, and diminishes their ability to control or understand their own property, wealth, health, and legal rights. The good news is that worldwide illiteracy rates have been steadily declining over the past three decades, largely the result of efforts to increase basic educational opportunities for girls. Global figures on illiteracy generally do not incorporate information on “functional illiteracy,” which is actually growing in many of the world’s richest countries. In these countries, the literacy pattern is reversed – women tend to have lower rates of functional illiteracy than men. This reflects the growing “feminization” of education in the post-industrial rich world.


From The Atlas of Women in the World (3rd edition 2003) by Joni Seager, © MyriadEditions.com
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