Less than 80% of people in the world can read this article.
Nouran Azhar, Himani Kamineni, Yina Wang
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Cultural norms, for example, can set many young girls back in their education in fear of looking like an outsider in comparison to their peers or previous generations. Additionally, there are discrepancies in literacy between youth and adult rates. These visualizations below will explore the trends we noticed in the past few decades for adults and youth around the world, while also diving deeper into what is causing the gaps between males and females.
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As early as birth, girls and boys are introduced to gender norms that shape their adolescence going into adulthood. Some examples of these norms include setting the expectation for boys to become the man of the house while girls would become the housewife. These two gender stereotypes, as well as many others, are one of the causes of gender inequality around the world. Society on its own is partially characterized by gender inequality, with males having a better standing in political, economic, and social positions.
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The functions of society as a whole contribute to an overlap between gender inequalities and literacy rates. In 2012, UNESCO reports, “Restrictions to movement, poverty, early marriage, domestic work, discrimination, violence, non-ownership of assets and political disenfranchisement are all intertwined causes of illiteracy.” Based on some norms identified earlier, we are able to identify that restrictions to movement, early marriage, and domestic work are some qualities not only depicted in gender inequality, but illiteracy as well. Because young girls are raised to assume the role of a housewife, someone who only needs to focus on taking care of the kids and the house, these girls are less likely to be enrolled in any sort of education, reducing their literacy. On the other hand, when boys are taught to work hard to provide for their future families, they are the ones who are going to school to learn. These trends allow for a gap between literacy rates and gender, which the visualizations below will portray.
Growing up as females of color, we realize how much we value quality education when we observe how students our age learn around the world. Due to factors such as government policies, economy, cultural norms, and more, something like learning how to read and write can prove to be a challenge to many youth.
In the Rangamati Hill District of southern Bangladesh, students immerse themselves in a world of books (Photo: UNICEF/Jannatul Mawa).
Image 1: In this 2007 image, Nusrat, a girl belonging to a homeless family, studies on a pavement in Mumbai. Globally, an estimated 31 million girls of primary school age are not in education. Photograph: Arko Datta/Reuters
Disclaimer: the terms "male" and "female" will be used exclusively to describe sex assigned at birth. The green areas of the maps represent regions with no data.
Adult literacy rates for males in 2015, map graph
Adult literacy rates for females in 2015, map graph
From a distance, the similarities in both graphs are rather evident. However, one must take a deeper look in order to differentiate between adult male and adult female literacy rates. In much of South Asia and the continent of Africa, the literacy rates for women are lower than those for men. Specifically, the difference is about 10%, as the average female adult literacy rate is 72.70% and 82.98% for male.
Youth literacy rates for males in 2015, map graph
Youth literacy rates for females in 2015, map graph
Much of what was earlier mentioned in the adult literacy rates still holds true for youth, especially in terms of location. The literacy rates of youth males are still higher than youth females. However, comparing adult and youth rates, the latter tends to have higher literacy rates than the other. The average youth female literacy rate is 83.73% and the average youth male literacy rate is 89.08%.
The graph exhibits a downward trend for the number of illiterate youth, from the total number being 180 million in 1985 down to about 100 million in 2018. Though the difference is rather minute, there is still the gap between the male and female lines, once again reinforcing the impact of gender inequality on female youth.
Literacy (world) vs. time from 1985-2018, line graph
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Reforming current education systems can foster a beneficial learning environment, one that can maintain literacy rates from childhood to adulthood. Once basic educational needs are met for females, only then can long-standing gender norms be uprooted. Besides the changes in educational curriculum, limiting the harmful practices of forced marriage, child marriage, gender discrimination, and more can make a big difference.
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According to the UN, “Each additional year of schooling beyond primary offers greater payoffs for improved opportunities, options and outcomes for girls and women,” showing that a simple education can empower girls to succeed in the future. Not only can an improvement in education benefit the female population, but society as a whole benefits from having an overall more educated population that is ready to tackle the issues of today.
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Looking at the gender inequality in literacy rates, we see that the issue of gender inequality is not simply an issue addressing the UNSDG goal #5 of gender equality but an issue that involves the disparities in access to wealth in developing countries in Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. This can be seen by the fact that developing countries have much lower literacy rates than those that are more developed regardless of gender.
Photo credit: UNICEF
Photo credit: UNICEF
Photo credit: UNICEF