Woman plays a critical role in any society. A society can be categorized into developed or under developed based on the position of women in society. In many countries, the literacy rate is low in case of women and in the developing countries the rate is very low and in poor countries the literacy rate of women is worse. In developing countries, women are considered as second grade citizens. In case of women, even before coming out of the womb of the mother the discrimination starts and it continues till their death.
Malala Yousafzai, education activist.
Also read: Negative effects of child labor
There are several reasons for low literacy rate in case of women and they can be summarized as follows:-
Cultural barriers:- In several cultures, boy is treated as the person who look after their parents and this is the main reason for negligence in girls.
Poverty:- Poverty is another main cause of illiteracy in women. Poor families are unable to send their children to schools and this result in women falling into the viscous cycle of poverty.
Household work:- Girls are expected to do household work and also have the extra burden of helping their mothers. This leads to lack of quality education for women. Due to this even though they attend school, they can’t concentrate well on studies.
Early marriages:- Girls in developing countries are forced to have early marriages, which creates a bad impact on their whole live. Though many countries made strict laws about the minimum age for marriage, the child marriages are still seen in many countries and having a strong negative impact on women education.
Challenges in life:- Women have to pay three roles i.e. daughter, wife and mother and in all the three cases she is dependent on others like father, husband, children etc. The independence in women’s life is less when compared with men and this reflects in their decisions.
Religious Reasons:- Religious extremists oppose women education and attacks on persons supporting women education are also resulting in decrease of number of women students in several countries. In the third world countries, women are not allowed to do jobs and this act as a strong barrier for women education.
In modern world, the position of women is getting better in several countries but it still needs more improvement. Governments and NGO’s and other world organizations are specially emphasizing the need of women education and doing several activities to support women education. Their efforts are not only limited to women education but also trying to reduce the gender equality. They are even trying to improve the condition of women by enabling the things like equal pay for men and women, equal opportunity of work for men and women, reservation for women in jobs etc.
National improvement is impossible when 100% literacy rate in women is achieved. Women education helps in creating better families and educated women can help in education of her children. Famous Napoleon’s statement “If the women of my country are not educated, about half of the people will be ignorant” is valid for any country and it can be applied to even today’s society. An educated woman not only creates a positive impact on her family but also contributes to the development of country (indirectly) immensely.
