Working Papers

In the 1990s, investment in education of girls and women has become a development imperative due to positive relationship between female education and indicators of social and economic development. Despite growth of formal education and improved literacy rates among female population in developing countries, nearly two-third of the worlda??s illiterates are women towards the end of the twentieth century. The Census of 2001 shows improvement in the female literacy rate, however, gender gap in literacy has persisted in India along with regional disparities in education. What accounts for widespread illiteracy among women? What kind of literacy education women need? To what extent existing educational policy and literacy programmes are geared towards promoting literacy education that empower women? This paper argues that female illiteracy is essentially a manifestation of social inequality, the unequal distribution of power and resources in society. Literacy per se is of little relevance to poor women who daily struggle for survival. Within the alternative vision of development, articulated by Prof. Amartya Sen, the Nobel prize-winning economist, empowerment of women is central to the process of development, and literacy is the most fundamental form of education that is essential for empowering women to fight against gender inequalities. Thus, what women need is empowering literacy and education that enable them to break out of the vicious cycle of powerlessness, poverty and marginalisation. Although the Government of India has assigned priority to promoting education of girls and women, there is a wide gap between policy intentions and practice. However, several innovative educational programmes of non-government organisations (NGOs) and Mahila Samakhya Programme of the government have attempted to promote empowering literacy education among poor and illiterate women. The challenge before development planners in the twenty-first century is mainstreaming alternative approach to literacy in order to link womena??s literacy with livelihoods and empowerment.