Rate of Literacy in Indian Women

The rate of literacy in Indian women is dismal in comparison to India’s progress in other areas, as well as in comparison to other economically similar countries. In a country which is fast becoming one of the world’s largest superpowers, less than half of the female population is literate. This figure is much lower than that in China as well as in many low-income economies which are far behind India’s in terms of many other developmental achievements. The resultant social inequalities in India are robbing women of basic freedoms, reducing their quality of life as well as the quality of life of their families. It has been observed that a more educated mother provides better health and education for her children, and plays far less of a submissive role to her husband and mother-in-law in the family dynamic .

The abysmal rate of female literacy in India has been perceived by researchers as a cause of prevailing gender roles. Gender roles are shaped by culture and determine expectations of how men and women should behave . In Indian culture, the long-standing traditions of marriage and family life determine the gender roles of women directly as well as indirectly. Due to the nature of these traditional gender roles, parents are discouraged from investing in an education for their daughters.

Although school enrolment is free, sending a child to school is not. There is a significant cost for necessities such as school uniforms, tutoring and school supplies. There is also an opportunity cost that can be ascribed to the value of household work that the child could have been doing at home. Further, there is effort involved in sending children to school. It takes time to prepare them every morning, taking them to and from school, as wel...

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...ree areas, 1) Cafeteria help, 2) Tutoring, and 3) Escorting students to and from school. The second school will be the control group in which this program will not exist. Information about the female attendance rates will be collected monthly over a period of 2 years.

The independent variable will be the community service program found in one Indian school and not in the other. The dependent variables will be the monthly female attendance as well as female dropout rates from both schools. The hypothesized results will show that a mandatory community service program catering to parents’ self-serving agenda will cause much higher rates of female attendance and much lower female dropout rates.

Works Cited

Dreze & Sen, India: Development and Participation, 2002, Oxford University Press

Myers & Spencer, Social Psychology 3rd Canadian Edition, 2006, McGraw Hill Ryerson