Female Illiteracy is the Feminist Issue We Should Be Talking About

The general opinion on feminism in the United States is one that I am disagreeing with more and more. Sometime last week Dave Hon published an article in news press now titled “Why I’ll Never Date a Feminist.” The article suggests, among other things, that feminists are “man haters” and that the wage gap in the U.S. does not exist. Unfortunately, Hon is not alone in his opinions. I’m tired of seeing men denounce feminism, I’m tired of seeing women proudly announce that they aren’t feminists, and I’m very tired of everyone so preoccupied arguing over whether or not feminists are man-haters (they aren’t) that they’re missing the point behind the word itself. This isn’t only a misunderstanding of the word “feminism”, although some might need a refresher, this is a cultural problem.

What I would like to ask Hon, and like-minded people, is why his scope of feminism is so narrow. Let’s just say the wage gap, rape culture, and the patriarchy are a myth. Did you know that 2/3 of illiterate people around the world are female? This isn’t a topic that gets a lot of attention but it should. While the numbers are readily available online, I had never seen any mention of female literacy before through my usual internet browsing, and definitely not in the emotional way that other feminist topics are discussed. In the United States it may be easy for some to believe that women don’t have it that bad; to stretch the numbers, to make the wage gap seem like a myth, and to roll your eyes and chalk the whole feminist movement up to women being emotional or whiny. One look outside of this country though, to communities — sometimes whole societies — in the Middle East or Africa, and it is clear that while some things are not equal for women in the United States, things are even worse around the world.

I’m not sure if female illiteracy isn’t as pervasive because it is less eye catching than other feminist issues or if it is because we are too removed from the issue. Literacy is definitely something that I have taken for granted. I actively try to stay informed and keep an open perspective, but I was sorely uninformed on this topic. Reading was integrated into my life so early and so seamlessly that I don’t really remember learning to read at all. Reading has always been an important part of my life but I don’t often think of the indirect ways that reading has helped me. As an English major, it would come as no surprise that books have continuously brought me joy since I learned to read. However, those who cannot read are probably less worried about reading David Sedaris memoirs and more concerned with functioning within society or getting a job. 2/3 of illiterate people are female. Illiteracy means being unable to read or write but it also means much, much more. Literacy isn’t exciting and it doesn’t invoke as strong as an emotional response as rape or genital mutilation but literacy is a deep underlying cause behind almost every gender related issue. Impossible has an evocative video outlining the ways in which being illiterate can affect your life

This video shows that “the inability to read and write is an invisible force that sustains and amplifies most of the major problems we are collectively grappling with.” Although this issue isn’t very mainstream, there are many organizations working to help raise the world literacy rate. I am eager to share these organizations and what they do to help direct interested readers to the ways in which they can help. However, one of the best and most effective ways to make this project a success is to open your mind and learn about female illiteracy and then spread the word so that this issue does become popular enough to warrant the mainstream public’s attention.

I want to explore global illiteracy to help raise awareness to the issue. I hope that discussing female illiteracy is a way to broach the controversial topic of feminism from an uncontroversial angle. Everyone should want everyone to have the ability to read. 757 million men and women around the world are unable to read or write and as a result face humiliation, the inability to vote in elections, the inability to learn on their own, and many other hardships. Literacy is not even rising; it has remained stagnant for several years. Here in the US 1 in 7 adults are “functionally illiterate” which means that they do not have reading and writing skills beyond a basic level. If the United States, a well-developed country, can’t even keep all of its citizens reading and writing above a basic level, then it is no surprise that other countries have issues doing so. It is my intention to look into what countries have lower rates of female literacy and why that would be. Committing yourself to being knowledgeable about female illiteracy is also committing yourself to lowering the rates of rape, female unemployment, child marriages, STD’s, and countless other things that affect quality of life. Teaching women to read and write means giving 493 million women the opportunity to take their lives back and to better function within society.