by Centrece Kendall
Can you imagine walking into a grocery store and not knowing how to read the names or nutritional values of the items you purchased? How would you know if they were good for you or not? What if the simplest task, such as reading directions or even your favorite book, became a struggle? In America and other developed countries women are immersed in a culture that thrives off literacy. A woman cannot gain success without knowing how to read and write. However, women in the developing world face daily struggles caused by illiteracy. Countries like Afghanistan have low rates of literacy for women so it becomes difficult for them to find pharmacies or other services when they cannot read the directional signs. Literacy impacts not only the well being of a woman but of her family as well. Being literate means that a woman would not only be able to read directions to a pharmacy, but she would also be able to understand the directions for the medicines her children need and how to administer them.. Literacy not only impacts a person’s ability to understand their surroundings, but also increases their contribution to society.
Educated women will pass on to their children health and the opportunity to be productive citizens; how they choose to be productive will contribute to our global economy that helps to sustain the world population. Research has shown that if you educate a woman, you educate the whole community. In Nepal, an illiterate woman was unknowingly consuming a betel nut that has been linked to certain cancers. When the NGO R.E.A.D set up community libraries she gained access to literacy programs that provided her with books and pamphlets concerning women’s issues in the community, and she was then able to read about the harmful effects of the betel nut and stopped consuming them. This is just one example of how literacy can change lives, but work should be done on a macro level to improve the quality of life for illiterate women everywhere.
Education is more effective if the people can teach themselves. In the book Monique and the Mango Rains, Monique was one of the few people in her village who had access to education in women’s and children’s health. The women that came to see her learned how they should care for themselves during pregnancy and after and what to do for children when they got dehydrated. This helped to minimize maternal mortality, in the sense a literate woman was able to pass on her knowledge to those who otherwise wouldn’t have know. I feel the most efficient way for education to reach women in developing or undeveloped areas would be to take a few and educate them, and when they return charge them with the task of sharing their knowledge with the others. From there the women can determine whether they want a school or community center established to further promote literacy in their area.
Literacy programs in undeveloped areas should be the decision of the females in the community, rather than imposed on them by outside influences. They should be informed of the long term benefits and the men should know that educated women would be more helpful to the growth of their village than uneducated. The main benefits in areas where women may not be given the same opportunities to work include lower maternal and infant mortality. We need to petition for government and nongovernment organizations to increase literacy efforts, or raise money to help fund the necessary materials so women everywhere can enjoy the same quality of life as we do in America.