Avril Marren looks at the benefits that would come with improved female literacy in India, Kenya and Zambia. 

 

Startling parallels appear between India, Kenya and Zambia when looking at women’s literacy rates. The International Journal of Population Research identifies the crucial role that female literacy plays globally. It indicates that improving literacy amongst girls and women is key to decreasing maternal and child mortality, stabilising population growth, ensuring the provision, and use, of quality healthcare, and empowering women and their communities. Studies like this are striking, but when we look at these nations closely, we fully recognise the world-changing power of reading, writing and counting.

Achieving universal primary education was a UN Millennium Development Goal for 2015. Data gathered by UNICEF about education in India, shows that 99.9% of females (as a percentage of males) were enrolled in primary school between 2008 – 2012. Despite this intervention from the Indian government, The Hindu reports that of the number of Indian females who study until Class 2nd (when they are roughly 7 years old), only 15% are able to read a sentence. Moreover, of the females who reach Class 5th, only 48% are literate. This highlights the poor quality of schooling available to Indian women and suggests that students are being moved on to the next grade without having acquired the necessary skills. In a 2016 article for Social Change, Shiv Prakash Katiyar predicts that ‘at the current rate of progress, India will attain total female literacy only in 2051′. This lack of drive in teaching women persists despite indications in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care that the promotion of education and gender equality leads to better health outcomes, lower population growth, and higher incomes in India and worldwide.

The same research found that ‘the effect of female literacy [in terms of population stabilisation and infant health] exists independently of male literacy’ and that, in Kenya, a mother’s education had a far greater effect on decreasing infant mortality than that of a father’s. UNICEF statistics affirm that Kenyan education is being expanded to include a greater number of women. However, like in India, there are still concerns about the quality of this education, and the disparity between literacy in urban and arid areas of Kenya. The Daily Nation reported in September last year, that despite an overall decline in enrolment, more Kenyan women are participating in literacy programs than ever before and outperforming their male counterparts. The major obstacles to capitalising on this female surge in literacy are lack of resources and infrastructure.

A sustainable model for overcoming this may be found in Camfed’s work in Zambia. Zambia has the same background of increased youth participation in education, and a growing overall literacy rate, as India and Kenya. And like these two nations, Zambia has also yet to see significant results from this when it comes to female literacy. Camfed Zambia has 1,138 partner schools and is working apolitically with governments to dismantle female exclusion from education, protect children, prevent child marriage and promote gender equality. By actively encouraging female education and enterprise, the schoolgirls Camfed supports go on to lead systemic change and improve the prospects of the next generation of women in education. The links and co-operation created by the Camfed network in Sub-Saharan Africa is an impressive example of the power of female literacy. Their goals of addressing child and maternal mortality, tackling poverty, accelerating economic development, and helping communities deal with climate change, show us how addressing gender inequality in literacy will have a knock on effect in the most urgent issues that our world faces.

 

If you would like to get involved or volunteer in either India, Kenya or Zambia, click here to for more information.

 

Photo by Jamie Taylor on Unsplash

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