Alia Bolton

Professor Taylor

English STACC 1A

January 26, 2015

Bolton 1

A women's right to literacy

Knowing how to read is pretty much the basis for getting any job or higher level

job that pays more than minimum wage. Its also such a crucial component to have for
heathy self esteem. So many people now still lack the skills to be able to read well, this
issue is in men but primarily in women, in other poorer parts of the country and some of
the US as well. Poor literacy and writing skills in women is a very relevant issue that
needs to be addressed and improved.
In other parts of the world it is mainly women who take care of the household and
children, as well as teach the future generation that this world will be left with when we
leave. Having so much weight on their shoulders without knowing how to read is
extremely difficult. A women that knows how to read can do a better job of taking care of
her business and assisting in helping the community bring people together and become
more cognitive person.
In countries all around the sub-Suharan Africa, South Asia and in Arab states it is a
major issue and would change and enhance lives a great deal, learning how to calculate
basic things for everyday encounters so that they won't have to rely on men, husbands,
or people they don't know. Children of this generation will feel the need to strive further
and aspire to pass the level of their parents, finish high school and possibly go to
college.

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Having that motivation inside them catches on and infects other people around them
that are not their immediate family making for an environment that is more education
oriented instead of primarily thinking about agricultural skills and other traits that are
usually expected of women to solely know. Of course one of the main focuses should be
towards providing food for your family and teaching that to your children. With more or
equal focus on literacy, wring comprehension and becoming bilingual, one can be on
the road to being more happy and fulfilled in their lives with less likelihood of
depression.
Being literate can help women that are being physically abused or mistreated in
any other way in other countries where independence for women isn't as widely
recognized break away from that bad situation. If you can read and have the capacity
to gather resources by communicating with other people in your neighborhood well to
be able to get jobs and build a life after you leave.
To be illiterate can be a very dangerous thing especially for women in other
countries where you can be easily cheated out of your money and like in the US as well,
fall into very low paying and manual labor jobs. Having literacy skills is basically a
weapon for every women in disguise, a women can easily get tricked with a nice smile
and flowers but no understanding of what one is saying and be lead somewhere
unknown. Without this basic skill it almost totally excludes them from participating and
having knowledge of political events. Running for office, voting, being a political activist
are all out of your reach.

Bolton 3
Also your legal rights may easily be compromised, a police officer or anyone else can
trick you into thinking that you are doing the wrong thing, pull you over or give you a
ticket and without having much knowledge of the constitution and your rights you may
believe them. A women that comes here from another country and or is from the US but
is not literate may have little to no knowledge of the Miranda warning and can
incriminate themselves getting into a bad situation real fast, not knowing what olive
officers are talking about.
Malala Yousafzai who became the youngest person to receive the Nobel Peace
prize gave such a powerful speech that included the importance of education.
"There are hundreds of human rights activists and social workers who are
not only speaking for their rights, but who are struggling to achieve their goal
of peace, education and equality. Thousands of people have been killed by the
terrorists and millions have been injured. I am just one of them. So here I
stand. So here I stand, one girl, among many. I speak not for myself, but so
those without a voice can be heard. Those who have fought for their rights.
Their right to live in peace. Their right to be treated with dignity. Their right to
equality of opportunity. Their right to be educated." (Yousafzai speech for UN)
That is just a snippet of her speech, but this paragraph shows the seriousness of
this issue around the world and present with so many different types of people.
Yousafzain is such an amazing young women to have so much knowledge and self
awareness at such a young age and to be able to eloquently communicate that to the
world and be recognized for it she went through such a horrifying time of her and her

Bolton 4
friends getting shot in the head by the Taliban, but she didn't let it out a stop to her
ambitions, they were looking for fear but she did not give it to them.
In order to get the most out of being literate it helps to be bilingual as well. When
coming from a country in a small town where it is not required to know more than one
language to survive, but if you travel to another part of town where there are more
tourist and one of the languages that are used is English, it helps to know a few words.
A person that has come from very little can feel more comfortable and like they are
connecting with other people and making an effort to broaden their knowledge should
learn English or any other language that is also used. Making sure to also be able to
write in that other language can help to not anyone rip you off or vice versa if you are
from the US and don't know the native language it can be hard to adapt and take in your
surroundings the best you can.
Literacy in the United States and in other counties are vastly different because like
I stated early places like sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia are really suffering, more
than sixty percent of adult women are still illiterate. Also in Mali the amount of adult
women that are literate is about twenty nine percent and in children it's forty five
percent. These numbers are devastating and even though people in different parts of
the world have grown so much with their ability to read, communicate and use those
skills to better their lives and the lives of their children, we are still way more behind
than we should be in 2015.

Even though there are many efforts made to provide free schooling to women and
also men in other countries the literacy rate continues to drop especially in Pakistan

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where there seems to be some of the lowest rates. Female literacy is around 35 percent
and becomes even lower at about twenty five percent in rural areas. It doesn't matter
how much education is provided people have to want and seek it out as well for all the
positive efforts to take full effect. Many young girls aren't even enrolled in school, from
grades first through sixth, there was a percentage of fifty five but its since gone down to
twenty. Pakistani culture is centered around their traditional ways regarding women
where she is not expected to know or perform many challenging tasks such as getting
an education which is reserved for men.
Women perform household chores and are to be focused on getting married at a
young age with not much room for anything else, that in turn of course makes what
should be a right to education and literacy a last concern. It is a horrifying truth to hear
that women there are being denied a right that we are born to in the US, women there
are just seen as tools and being produced for only a few purposes in mind. (Enrollment
rates of girls and women in Pakistan)
There should be groups and programs stationed in more of the rural areas that
some people may be afraid to go to because of violence or Heath conditions, it's not fair
that some women and men have to pay the price of their education for things that are
going on in their country they affect perception of others. When I say the perception of
others I mean what the people that are possibly trying to bring the education to them
but are worried for their safety.
No matter how much structure we try to put around this there is just no sure way
of knowing in the future that all rates of literacy have risen in countries such as

Bolton 6
Pakistan. The only thing to rely on is that more and more young women and men start
to care about their education enough to be educated. Also its difficult because most
don't really have the money to travel to areas where proper education is provided,
money should therefore be given to people that qualify and or it should be free.
Women all over the world need to stand up for themselves more and demand
literacy as their right, there are so many relevant issues on the news pertaining to
women that they are being left out of because they can not read or write.
Not to sound clich but honestly literacy is like gold, when I read a great book or
article online I automatically know ten plus more things about that particular subject that
I didn't know or gain knowledge of a new subject altogether. I feel so lucky that I am
able to read and comprehend such amazing information and intrigued to read more
because so much of it is so easily accessible through technology for me. I know it is
very hard for people that can not understand simple words knowing that if they could,
they would easily know so much more by picking up a newspaper or going to the library
but instead they are robbed of their right for that. That right that seems so easy for many
of us but so many being in a state of poverty cannot get to, their social, economic and
political rights are just too limited.

Works Cited
"Illiteracy Is Dangerous." Mission India Blog. N.p., 11 Dec. 2014. Web. 24 Jan. 2015.

"Women's Right to Literacy | NIACE." Women's Right to Literacy | NIACE. Web. 26 Jan.
2015. <http://www.niace.org.uk/current-work/womens-right-to-literacy>.

Kelleher, Fatimah. "The Literacy Injustice: 493 Million Women Still Can't Read." The
Guardian. 8 Sept. 2014. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/globaldevelopment-professionals-network/2014/jun/17/literacy-women-illiteracydevelopment>.

"Malala Yousafzai: 'Our Books and Our Pens Are the Most Powerful Weapons'" The
Guardian. 13 July 2013. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. <http://www.theguardian.com/
commentisfree/2013/jul/12/malala-yousafzai-united-nations-education-speech-text>.

Amna, Latif. "A Critical Analysis of School Enrollment and Literacy Rates of Girls and
Women in Pakistan." Ebscohost. Web. 26 Jan. 2015. <http://
web.b.ebscohost.com.ezp.pasadena.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=0bcfa8fe-6a5d-446ab025-

"Why Literacy Matters." Education for All, Literacy for life. Ch5. 136. Print