providing for example single-sex education if this is what is wanted. To encourage
poorer parents to send their girls to school, not only must the fee problem be removed
but indirect costs need to be considered: where girls would otherwise be looking after
younger siblings, pre-school provision and family allowances can both help. It is
important too to make girls feel at ease within the school environment. The provision of
separate toilets, awareness-training for teachers, the revision of sex-stereotyped
textbooks and the introduction of female role-models into school would all help.
Resources need to be equitably shared so that boarding places and scholarships are
available to girls as well as boys. Job discrimination laws and good careers advice are
needed to provide equality of opportunity in the jobs market.
BOWN, Lalage (1990), Preparing the Future: Women, Literacy and Development,
Actionaid, Chard, UK.
This is a report prepared in order to focus attention on the impact of female literacy on
human development and the participation of literate women in change. As the author
puts it: "The main threads of the enquiry have been the effect of literacy on women's
preparation for the future and on their capacity to emerge from being the shadows of
other people."
It is necessary for the concept of literacy to be examined, and it is clearly explained that
literacy is not a single unified competence, nor is it a fixed measurable achievement.
Nonetheless, it is possible to recognise illiteracy and it would appear to be a growing
problem overall, and with the gap between males and females widening to the further
disadvantage of the latter. In order to get closer to the realities, a number of case studies
are examined, especially to ascertain what kind of returns might be expected from an
improvement in female literacy rates. Such returns are discussed in respect of social
effects (increased participation in education and health initiatives); economic effects
(greater capacity to mobilise credit and participate in business initiatives), personal
effects (greater influence on family decisions and willingness to participate in
community activity). It is recommended that the female dimension should be
highlighted in development projects funded by multilateral and bilateral donors, and
that popular, or basic education be promoted. The issue of self-realisation and self-
belief is central to any improvement that may be enjoyed. All these matters are well
illustrated with detailed reference to field examples and experiences from Asia, Africa
and Latin America. These cases are interwoven within the thematic chapters and thus
relate well to theoretical considerations.
Despite the evidence collected and reported on here, the author concludes that there is
still a great deal to be discovered. For example: does literacy have an impact on the life-
expectancy of mothers? how far is literacy an ingredient in the sustainability of
women's economic ventures? how far could women's literacy improve agriculture in
countries where women play a large part in farming? what effect does literacy have on