Women's literacy is frequently assumed to be the foremost to selling greater future health, family members making plans and food within the constructing international. This has ruled a lot improvement learn and has ended in women's literacy being promoted by means of governments and relief corporations because the key to enhancing the lives of terrible households. excessive dropout premiums from literacy programmes recommend that the assumed hyperlink among women's literacy and improvement may be disputed.

This publication explores why ladies themselves are looking to discover ways to learn and write and why, all too usually, they come to a decision that literacy sessions will not be for them.

Bringing jointly the studies of researchers, coverage makers and practitioners operating in additional than a dozen international locations, this edited quantity provides substitute viewpoints on gender, improvement and literacy via distinct first-hand debts. instead of seeing literacy as a collection of technical abilities to be passed over in school rooms, those writers provide new desiring to key phrases equivalent to 'barriers', 'culture', 'empowerment' and 'motivation'.

Divided into 3 sections, this article examines new examine techniques, a gendered viewpoint on literacy coverage and programming, and implementation of literacy tasks in African, Asian and South American contexts. With new insights and groundbreaking examine, this assortment will curiosity lecturers and pros operating within the fields of improvement, schooling and gender studies.