The Issue Of Women Illiteracy In Asia
Abstract
It has been observed that in some part of the world especially in Asia, women are not treated in the right way. Women receive less education than men. Our set social norms are the main reason behind this. Women comprise approximately, half the population in the world. But still they are uneducated and the thinking for them is still same. as they have to bear in-equality in the society and even they miss a lot of opportunities to show their capabilities. Access to education is now one of the most urgent and one of the most important demands of these women’s movements.
Introduction
Women’s education in some part of the world has also been a chief preoccupation of both government and social or civil society as educated women can play a very important role in the development of the country. But there are some reasons due to which women are still on the same path in which they were and still are not educated. More than one in three women in Asia are illiterate. Poverty is one of the biggest reasons behind this. Due to poverty parents are not able to buy uniforms and books for their children and can’t even pay school fee. Another cause is early marriage and pregnancy. Due to which women are not able to go schools and are uneducated. Young girls are forced to marry and even they were forced to get pregnant and ultimately they are not able to complete their education.
In many Asian countries, barriers of all kinds are still stood between girls and schools. As girls entered the puberty they hit the wall of culture. Emotional and physical dangers may increase for them. as they grow young, women’s due to sexual harassment and assault, they failed to move on. Both the daily journey to schools and even environment of the schools itself may be unsafe for girls. It is unsafe because both the teachers as well as colleagues can do physical harassments. Globally, girls are more likely to never enter primary schools than boys. Research shows that, in Southwest Asia, only 87 girls go to the primary school for every 100 boys.
In countries, such as Ethiopia, Eritrea, Guinea, Nigeria, there are fewer than 35 female students for every 100 male students. Even in India, 68% women are still illiterate. India has failed to reduce its adult illiteracy rate by 50% as planned and since 2000 only managed to reduce by 26%. Afghanistan is one of the most challenging nations in the world for women’s. Many women’s die in pregnancy and childdirth: 460 death/100,000 live birth (2010). 85% women’s have no formal education and are illiterate. More than 50% of afghan girls are married by 12 years of age and almost 60% of girls are married by 16. Married girls do not continue their studies and remain illiterate. As international women’s day is celebrated today, they continue to feel the age-old lash of violence, repression, isolation, enforced, ignorance and discrimination. The things are universal (Bien, Amie, executive director of New York).
Literacy is one of the best indicators of women’s status in their countries. School alone does solve the problem International Canada Woman’s rights campaigner. Nations like India, they give utmost importance to virginity and purity, but not education. Over half of the girls in Pakistan are not educated and according to world economic forum gender parity report, Pakistan has world’s second lowest rate of female employment. In Nepal, only 7% of students actually make the 10th grade. A female education is not as much important as males, and thus Nepalese young girls are sold for money. The problem is that there are a lot of obstacles women have to face. Parents feel that it is not safe to send their daughters to schools because any miss happening will occur. The negative attitude of parents towards the girls and her education is one the major reason of low female literacy. In most of the families, boys at home give priority in terms of education but girls are not treated in the same way. Another reason which affects the education of women are, having no teachers in schools, untrained staff, even no class-rooms, lack of learning material, the distance of schools from home.
Evidence collected by World Bank group (2015) shows that Nicaragua, 63% of abused women’s had to repeat a school in a year and dropped out of the school an average of four years earlier than others. In Zambia, girls who experienced sexual violence were found to have more difficulty to concentrate on their studies. Some students are dropped out of schools because of pregnancy and some changed their schools. Education is one of the most important parts of everyone’s life. Whether its boy or girl, it should be mandatory for all. It is annoying to know that some countries are still discriminate against the education of girls. About 57 million children around the world are not going to school.
The thinking of the society has to be changed. There are number of examples which proves the capability of the women’s and which shows that they can stand out in this professional world. Malala Yousfzi, the Pakistani school who was brought to England after being shot in the head by the Taliban. She has given a speech at the UN headquarters in the New York, to give free and compulsory education to every child. She has put an excellent example for each and every girl. Mary Kom, the famous Indian boxer, a mother of two kids, faced thousands of hurdles to make her way up to the five world championship titles. Indira Gandhi, the biggest name of the Indian politics, influential in shaping post war Indian constitution and society. Hilary Clinton, first lady during Bill presidency and democratic candidate for president. There are famous businesswomen in the world, who not only feel proud of their organization but their countries too. For example, Indira Krishnamurthy Noovi is an Indian based American business women and the current chairwoman and chief executive officer of Pepsi, the second largest food and beverage business in the world. Marry Barra, chairwoman and, CEO of general motors. Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook. Isha Ambani, an Indian businesswoman, and ranked 2nd youngest billionaire heiress list of Forbes (2008).
Conclusion
Women illiteracy is one of the biggest issues so far. It is an ethical relativism issue. In order to eradicate such an unethical thinking and practices of the society, education itself can be the important contributor to create such change. Albeit cultural attitudes of the people are not easy to change because these are running since the period of their ancestors. The case study demonstrates the dominance of a male creature. But women can change the history by finding their own voice and identity to stand out in this professional world. Awareness programs like family planning, healthcare issues should be organized in order to make the rural people understand the importance of education. Awareness about the importance of study so that parents as well as society should themselves encourage girls to go to schools.
The Government should take keen steps for the fee structure of schools so that every individual from any background get the education easily. Basic education should be free of cost. Schools should be nearer to homes with women teachers. If girls are preferring and encourage to go to schools it will decrease child marriage, decrease infant mortality, decrease maternal mortality, decrease population explosion, decrease domestic and sexual violence, decrease support for militancy, improve socioeconomic growth, increase involvement in political process, future generations will be educated.
