Every September 8th, the United Nations/UNESCO celebrates literacy and raises awareness about the barriers to worldwide literacy, and the consequences of those barriers. This year's theme explores the relationship between a literate people and peace. But for this post, let's explore last year’s theme, "The Power of Women's Literacy"
Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Some statistics:
Approximately two-thirds of adults that are unable to read and write worldwide are women.
"Despite many and varied efforts, literacy remains an elusive target: girls still account for more than half of the 67.4 million out-of-school children in the world, and two-thirds of the 796 million adult illiterates are female." http://www.un.org/womenwatch/calendar/10-09.html
To put this disparity into a visual context, Worldmapper.com is a great resource: by clicking on the link, you'll see a larger version of the map below, which shows gender inequalities in literacy rates by country. The bigger the country appears on the map, the more disparity.
Fortunately, things are getting better through hard work and....you guessed it, education. There are many organizations working towards 100% literacy rates. Charity Navigator can be a helpful tool in figuring out which of these organizations are the most efficient and successful at reaching their goals.
Are you going to celebrate International Literacy Day? If so, how?
No comments:
Post a Comment