Illiteracy serves as a leading inhibitor to lifting oneself out of this life. Without the ability to read, write and count, employment is scarce, financial exploitation is rampant and millions of families go hungry. According to the World’s Women 2015 study, there are 781 million adults over the age of 15 estimated to be illiterate. Of these, 496 million were women.
Millions suffer from debilitating poverty; this message has been made known from organizations around the world. There are villages without access to food, shelter, clean water, proper sanitation, education, or healthcare. Poverty continues to breed a number of injustices, like gender violence and discrimination, infant mortality, child labor, and human trafficking.
For centuries, atrocities towards women have been considered “women’s issues”, yet the plight of women is a product of a combination of social, economic, and educational dysfunctions, which have immeasurable societal and global consequences.
A key factor contributing to statistics like these are born out of the perceived value of females in the developing countries. All too often, girls are often raised to believe they are second-class citizens who are less worthy than their male peers.
Literacy is an opportunity for change; not just for the empowerment of women, but for a nation to redefine her role.