ProLiteracy Celebrates International Women’s Day!
Today, On March 8, 2011, we mark the Global Centenary for International Women’s Day – 100 years since the first International Women's Day. More than one million women and men attended rallies in 1911. Today, we remember and honor the achievements women have made all over the world. The United Nations Global Theme for International Women’s Day 2011 is: Equal access to education, training and science and technology: Pathway to decent work for women.
We at ProLiteracy would like to express our appreciation to our program partners who work in more than 30 countries to help women gain literacy skills and access to information about health, human rights, and micro enterprise. Every day, women open doors for new levels of education, employment, and progress for their families and communities. ProLiteracy celebrates women today! We stand in solidarity to support the many partners we have working on behalf of women in North/South America, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East to see women champion the power of literacy in the lives of their families and communities.
In what way is globalization impacting the educational expectations for females?
ReplyDeleteI think what ProLiteracy is doing for women is great! What are some of the major barriers that prevent women from gaining literacy skills in these countries?
ReplyDeleteWhat opportunities are available for women to reach out and get help with their literacy skills? How supportive are their families and communities?
ReplyDelete@nursesmith This is an excellent question and one many people consider as we all try to define globalization. Here is a resource from UNESCO that might be useful for you: http://bit.ly/ifw1bM From our point of view, there are usually positive outcomes from women and girls gaining access to education. What do you think?
ReplyDeleteAlesha Anderson, International Program Coordinator, ProLiteracy
@yellowtop04 Thanks so much for your support of ProLiteracy and for reading our blog! Please check out our Critical Issues in Literacy papers at http://bit.ly/hF5g0b. They discuss several barriers women face in gaining access to literacy, including health problems, lack of employment, and gender based violence among others. As you know, ProLiteracy, our partners, and many other organizations are working hard with local communities to overcome these barriers.
ReplyDeleteAlesha Anderson, International Program Coordinator, ProLiteracy
@summer Thanks for the comment! At ProLiteracy we recognize that in some communities opportunities for women to get help with their literacy skills are very limited. Therefore we integrate literacy into community development to help communities find their own literacy-based solutions to problems such as lack of clean water, HIV/AIDS, health problems, and lack of employment. To learn more about how we do this and to see some of our materials, please check out our wiki, www.oc4d.org and our website, www.proliteracy.org, you can read more about our model under "What We Do" and click on "Internationally."
ReplyDeleteOur experience is that family and community support for literacy varies based on the political, cultural, and religious environment.
Alesha Anderson, International Program Coordinator, ProLiteracy
Instead of narrowing the program to "just" women, you are making it a family/community program. This strategy is effective and shows. I was discussing your website with a colleague recently and said that what you are doing is a breath of fresh air; creative approaches to teaching
ReplyDeleteI am taking a university course and the focus is on globalization and education. An article I just read for the class, explained that the main blue collar workforce in many low income countries is women. Their education levels vary but these women are the foundation of many industries. In a way this is a blessing and a curse. The article stated that although the jobs offered many of these women and their families a way out of poverity the working conditions were often poor. I am afraid that globalization my be providing some industries an excuse to enslave some women without calling it slavery. What are your thoughts?
ReplyDeleteDear CMatte—thanks for your comment and your question. ProLiteracy primarily focuses on literacy, not workers’ rights, but our belief is that being literate and educated is a key condition for being able to organize collectively, create trade unions, etc. in order to address some of the worst employment conditions. We believe that literacy as an important condition to expand beyond the false dichotomy that women either have to accept poor working conditions or remain unemployed. Check out more of our work with women on our Women in Literacy web page(http://www.proliteracy.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=359&srcid=320) and our Literacy and Economic Self Reliance web page (http://www.proliteracy.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=363&srcid=320).
ReplyDeleteThanks! Amy Schmitz
Director of Communications
ProLiteracy
This is a wonderful day. Women may some day catch up to men. This is so important. Women need to be educated. For many women, there is not a man in their lives any more to care for them and/or their children. Therefore, it has become more important that women can care for themselves and their children.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing.
Kathy