UIL has published a second edition of a collection of case studies of promising literacy programmes that seek to empower women. "Narrowing the Gender Gap: Empowering Women through Literacy Programmes" (originally published in 2013 as "Literacy Programmes with a Focus on Women to Reduce Gender Disparities") responds to the…

This paper explores how literacy learning can support women's empowerment and the development of greater equality, benefitting not only individual women, but families, communities and economies too. It describes and reflects upon some of the most promising approaches to developing literacy and learning for women, who form the majority of the…

Literacy is the foundation of lifelong learning and a crucial element in the universally recognised right to education. However, illiteracy continues to exist as a global challenge, and many individuals still lack the basic literacy skills that are needed to engage in further learning opportunities and for the economic and social development of…

This paper examines the recent increase in the concern of adult literacy for citizenship, especially aimed at women in developing societies. It looks at what is happening in this field and why; it examines some of the critiques of this range of activity; and it suggests some alternatives which in the end may be more effective in promoting both…

Participatory literacy programmes in developing countries are often seen as an important tool for women's empowerment and equality. This article problematises the way in which evaluation of progress towards these goals is couched in a linear trajectory, and often fails to uncover the messy reality of women's negotiations to achieve their own aims.…

Various projects implemented to combat illiteracy in the Third World are explored. Highlights include women's ability to exercise right to learn, adult illiteracy rates, World Literacy of Canada (WLC), the Nicaraguan literacy crusade, and a WLC development education program that encouraged Canadians to prepare materials in "plain…

Paper presented at a seminar on Education of Women and their Role in the Second Development Decade, New Delhi, Jan. 11-15, 1971. Discusses the high rate of illiteracy of women in various parts of the world and offers suggestions on how to reduce the rate. (RB)

This booklet is designed to let learners know how much benefit women can get through literacy skills and to motivate them to learn how to read and write. The target population is beginning level, neoliterate women. Only minimal narration accompanies the drawings. Suggestions are made for use of the booklet by instructors in their discussion of the…

In Thailand, secondary school enrollments for males and females were negatively related to employment opportunities in the agricultural sector and positively related to opportunities in the manufacturing and service sectors. In Kenya, school supply, school quality, and service-sector employment positively influenced enrollments. Adult literacy…

This document contains the report and edited papers from an international seminar emphasizing the sharing of ideas and resources to eliminate illiteracy. Chapter I of the seven-chapter report offers background information and seminar objectives. Chapter II provides a world overview, which describes the general development context of literacy. In…

Women in development refers to the needs and problems of women in developing countries and the responsibility of industrialized countries to ensure that aid programs serve the best interests of these women. A concern of adult educators is the relationship between adult education and the challenges facing women in the development of their…

The articles in this issue are mainly concerned with how to reach the poorest and most disadvantaged sections of the population and how best to help once contact has been made. "Nijera Kori in Retrospect: In Search of an Organization of the Rural Poor" (Mohiuddin Ahmad) provides extracts from an evaluation of this grassroots,…

This issue contains an editorial, "Empowering Women through Education" (Elizabeth Cruzada), and eight articles. "Women and Education" (Swarna Jayaweera) presents the status of women and girls' education in Asia vis-a-vis the goals set in the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies. "Education Reforms and Development of Chinese…

By the year 2000, it is estimated that there will be 1 billion illiterates, 98% of whom will be in developing regions. Oral traditions and the preponderance of local languages and dialects are among the reasons the situation is so widespread. Illiteracy is linked to contextual factors in which social class distinctions, linguistic affiliations,…

In 1984, the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen undertook a nationwide literacy campaign, which mobilized the entire nation in an effort to reach an estimated 194,000 illiterate people, 77 percent of them women. The campaign plan demanded the full and active participation of formal school teachers and students at secondary level and above as…