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By Dana Laventure

The New York Times tells the story of Ms. Kakuben Lalabhai Parmar, from the rural village of Madhutra, in Gujarat, western India, where people are treated as untouchables. Women are bound to their homes, never allowed to “come out of [the] house and participate in society.”

Ms. Parmar might never have left her house in Madhutra, much less established the business she has today, if she had not begun selling her patchwork mirror embroideries when she was encouraged to do so by a nonprofit called the Sewa Project. “We never even thought of getting income from selling this stuff before,” she says in the Times. Instead, Ms. Parmar now earns an income, owns her own cattle, and holds her own account with a microfinance credit union. She recently toured New York City as an “informal ambassador” for Sewa and the Crafts Council of India, encountering for the first time a variety of novelties: everything from seatbelts and taxis to the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

In India, “by some estimates, 40 million to 60 million people gain at least part of their living making handicrafts.” The Crafts Council of India and Sewa Project strive to protect the tradition behind these crafts, like Ms. Parmar’s embroidery technique, while providing the resources for artisans to use their crafts to support themselves financially.

What a difference an education and a job can make in a woman’s life, allowing her to begin to change the gender roles that have confined her under the guise of tradition for so many years. Ms. Parmar’s success as a businesswoman shows “the importance of educating women, getting them out of the house and into jobs.” When she was younger, she says, “all the assets belonged to the father or the husband or the brother… In those days, the husband was in charge of everything.” Now, Ms. Parmar’s family life has changed: “Now that I have my own business and make my own money, my husband shows me respect.”

Dana Laventure is a recent graduate of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU, where she studied the role of communication and literature in social theory. She is currently a legal intern at the Open Society Institute, looking for future employment in nonprofit communications and considering a path into academia.

More and more organizations and higher education institutions are beginning to understand the value of education for women, and acknowledge that a woman’s contribution to her community is just as valuable as her contribution to her home and family.  In an effort to encourage the education of women in countries with deep-seeded cultural beliefs regarding education and gender roles, scholarship providers have encouraged women to pursue higher education opportunities by providing full-scholarships to attend both undergraduate and graduate colleges.  Most of these are higher education scholarships that encourage grantees to study abroad.  In more recent years, focused scholarships pertaining specifically to women from underserved populations have gradually become more recognizable and accessible through scholarship searches.  As wide and varied as the requirements and guidelines for these specified scholarships are, nearly all of them share the common goal of creating individuals, who through education, will become thoughtful problem-solvers and leaders that will be able to positively influence social, economic and political change within their communities.

While any scholarship designed to help a woman achieve an education is certainly a positive step in the right direction, many scholarships often have specific requirements and geographic restrictions that need to be examined and taken into consideration. For example, scholarships through the World Bank require that students reside in countries that participate in the World Bank community. Other scholarships limit the level of education a student can achieve such as allowing them to receive a bachelor’s degree, but not continue on to a Master’s degree, in order to provide scholarships for more students. Many scholarships are awarded to students for working toward specific majors. The most popular majors to receive scholarships are those in medical, agricultural and economical fields of study, as scholarship providers believe leaders in these fields will have the most impact on their communities. The countries that that offer the most scholarship aid to foreign students are: The United States, England, The Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Finland.  The United Nations University scholarship offered by Switzerland, is another ample provider.

A higher education for anyone, let alone a woman in many parts of the world, is an ideal goal and a proven formula for real change. Unfortunately, many women from developing countries are unable to achieve even basic levels of literacy.  For the girls who are marginalized into the wide gap of minimal or no education, receiving a life-changing scholarship for higher education can seem impossible. Fortunately, many in the non-profit sector realize the need to keep girls in school to receive their basic education, and numerous organizations have emerged to respond to the early educational needs of young women in order to get them to that next step, the step that gives them a future other than one pre-determined by circumstance.

The following are a few scholarship options offered for women of developing countries:

1.) The Margaret McNamara Memorial Fund www.mmmf-grants.org

2.) The AEI Scholarship Fund ( African Education Initiative) www.usaid.gov

3.) The P.E.O. International Peace Scholarship Fund www.peointernational.org

Kimberly Prosa holds a BFA in Dance from the Purchase Conservatory and is in the process of completing her Masters in Human Services with a focus in nonprofit management, with research pertaining to international women‘s issues.

Imagine living in a country where among the factors determining the level of education you received ( if any) was the geographic region in which by circumstance, you lived. What if the difference between receiving a basic level of literacy was living in California or Michigan? For the many people of India, especially young women, this luck-of-the-draw location of birth is yet another obstacle in the path towards a basic education and in most situations, the only chance at altering a given reality and potentially creating a more promising future

[Caption: Nursing Students in Kerala] (Photo Credit: Spraguephoto.com)

Results from the U.S. census bureau (http://www.census.gov) in conjunction with results obtained from the census commissioner of India depict India as one of the countries with the lowest literacy rate for women throughout Asia. The current estimated overall female literacy rate is thought to be a little more than half (around 54%). Though this estimation on the whole is a fairly significant improvement over the last decade, a deeper look at the geographic break-down reveals a disheartening unequal balance of literacy rates between women of urban and rural India. The unequal distribution of educational opportunities is so imbalanced that literacy rates range from the highest in Kerala at 86%, to the lowest literacy rate found in Rajasthan with less than 12% of women who meet the qualifications to be deemed literate; this is an enormous discrepancy for a country 1/3 the size of the United States. While it is not necessarily uncommon for a developing country to experience differences between educational opportunities between urban and rural areas as issues of poverty can easily create educational barriers from region to region; India is unique in terms of the extreme ends of the spectrum in which women’s education is valued and dispersed. While the literacy rate as well as the rate of women completing middle school and even high school has risen statistically; these improvements are not spanning to reach the rural areas of India, and thus the gap between the regions continues to expand.

The 1398.5 miles that separate Kerala from Rajasthan would be the equivalent to a short plane ride in the United States from the west coast to the mid-west, but in India these miles create two different worlds for young women who already come into the world with gender based prejudices and obstacles in regards to their likelihood of receiving an education. In some instances the distance of these two worlds is even less with the second highest literacy rates occurring in Mizoram and the second lowest in Bihar, where these two states are separated by only 488 miles. The distinct differences that make up urban and rural educational discrepancies for women in addition to poverty are cultural differences, accessibility and opportunity. In addition, there is a correlation between high literacy rates, population decreases and health care.

The ability to meet the basic needs of the people of rural India in order to change the status of educating women from a privilege to a common cultural occurrence is essential. Providing educational opportunities that extend beyond the urbanized areas and ensuring educational programs and healthcare services reach the rural villages of India, is required to close the gap between the extreme differences in literacy rates and educational levels of rural and urban India.

Kimberly Prosa holds a BFA in Dance from the Purchase Conservatory and is in the process of completing her Masters in Human Services with a focus in nonprofit management, with research pertaining to international women‘s issues.

Real Beauty Is is supporting WEP at the next event! Thank you! Join us on June 23rd. Details are here:

www.realbeautyis.com/events

Media reinforces gender stereotypes which can be detrimental to the prospects of education for women and perpetuate violence against them. Recently, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Asha-Rose Migiro called to push to create gender neutrality in media by saying “such stereotyping, in turn, feeds into the gender discrimination which is a root cause of violence against women and girls.” In light of Migiro’s recent appeal it may be necessary to highlight the consequences and complexities of gender inequality in the media.

Media is a depiction of the true state of a society, whether it is in a developing or a developed nation. This mediated reflection of society reinforces certain stereotypes. Although women’s rights have improved in many nations, the media continues to portray women in a stereotypical manner. For example, mostly attractive women are cast for roles and they rarely play a main role in action movies. On the other hand, most developing nations are in transnational phases in terms of women’s economic and social value. Therefore, the media is both traditional and westernized (largely due to globalization) in its portrayal of women. For example, more women are shown having jobs than previously reported, but they continue to be shown to encompass a significantly inferior role in society than men. Nevertheless, developing nations have made some progress in disassociating the strict public vs. private dichotomy for males and females.

In the transitional phases of nations, media must incorporate culture and tradition in order to make their information relevant to the majority of the rural population. For example, various whitening creams in India such as Ponds White Beauty and Fair and Lovely have put out a great number of commercials. In these commercials, women who become “fairer” after using these creams are successfully able to find jobs as airhostesses or television reporters and are even asked for their hands in marriage. These types of commercials reveal the transitional nature of the society; while they affirm that women should go to work, ironically these are also jobs traditionally allotted to women. Commercials also depict more traditional values for women such as the attainment a partner through an arranged marriage. These commercials promote the idea that having light skin color is the key to success. If daughters are not fair skinned, parents may doubt the use of education for girls if they are shown commercials in which only girls with light skin succeed. The continuous portrayal of beauty and women in this manner calls into question whether media is in fact diminishing or augmenting opportunities for women.

Even if traditional values have still not changed in some societies, in some cases the westernization of media may keep more girls at home. Parents may feel the need to keep girls in a more protected environment because of the negative connotations associated with a westernized world which includes women who are free to drink and dress the way they want. If parents keep the girls at home because of the corruptive elements of a modern world depicted in the media, it may mean that they perceive protection and family honor to have a greater value than education Last year Sri Rama Sena, a pro-Hindu apolitical organization, beat up a group of girls who were drinking and dressing inappropriately in a pub in Manglore, South India. Such incidences question whether conservatives and even parents are actually protecting or controlling these women. Is the media helping women in rural areas with conservative backgrounds to empower themselves, or it is actually hindering their success and causing violence against them?
To read more about Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, Asha-Rose Migiro on gender neutrality in the media -
http://www.awid.org/eng/Women-s-Rights-in-the-News/Women-s-Rights-in-the-News/Media-must-play-role-in-pushing-for-gender-equality-Migiro-says
To read more about the Sri Ram Sena attack - http://www.hindujagruti.org/news/6204.htmlPond’s White Beauty - India

This is part 2 from a series of 5 commercials created about a woman who loses her boyfriend because she is dark-skinned. She wins his heart again after using Pond’s White Beauty cream. This commercial stars three famous Bollywood celebrities.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hae9kk0gBSE&feature=related

Fair & Lovely Commercial - Pakistan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a1iXt1yPsk

Dana Laventure is a recent graduate of the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at NYU, where she studied the role of communication and literature in social theory. She is currently a legal intern at the Open Society Institute, looking for future employment in nonprofit communications and considering a path into academia.

Microfinance has been used to financially empower women in dire economic situations, in hopes that financial success will lead to social equality in cultures which do not have a tradition of women’s rights. WomensTrust.Org provides a history of microfinance here: http://www.womenstrust.org/content/history-microlending.

Muhammad Yunus, often credited as the founder of micro-credit, founded the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1976. Today, 97% of Grameen Bank’s members are female. As explained by Christine Lagarde, [Yunus loaned to women] because “he knew that women would use their loans to advance projects or purchase tools, while he was wary of what men might do with the money.”

Any economic solution to gender inequality is only a small piece of the struggle. As Amartya Sen points out in his 1999 book Development As Freedom, money is not an end in itself, but a means toward freedom. Microloans can be used to make women equal competitors in the economic sphere, which can in turn develop their ability to act freely in their society.

In an article by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn that followed the release of their book, Half the Sky, Kristof and WuDunn tell the story of Saima, a Pakistani woman whose husband took out his economic frustration on her in daily beatings. Saima had borne two daughters, and her mother-in-law told Saima’s husband that he must take a second wife to have a son. At this point, Saima took out a loan of $65 to purchase beads and cloth, which she embroidered and sold to merchants. First, she used the profits to buy more materials. Then the profits were enough for Saima begin to pay off her husband’s debt. In time, she was using her revenue to employ 30 families to help her meet the demand from merchants. But most notable is the change in Saima’s husband’s attitude toward women, following her economic success. “Girls are just as good as boys,” he says at the end of Kristof and WuDunn’s story.

According to her Kiva lender profile, two of Medelyn Macabandi’s children have put their educations on hold because their family cannot currently afford to send them to school.
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Encouraging microlending to women promotes the belief that every woman deserves to be an equal participant in her society. Participation may begin with the freedom to expand one's business, but it does not end there. On Kiva.org, most loans explain how the recipient will use additional revenue generated by their loan, often to build or their homes, or to pay for their children'seducation.

Sen also credits the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) with "bringing about a changed climate of thought, not just more employment for women, in one part of India." SEWA is a trade union organization of self-employed women workers in India, which provides not only microfinance but aims for each of its members to achieve full employment and self-reliance.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton meets with women from SEWA in Mumbai, India, on July 18, 2009. (From SEWA's Archives]

As Kristof has pointed out, the percentage of microloans that go to women may feel “threatening” to men. There are also microloans which appear to go to women, but in fact get transferred to men: “studies of women borrowers have found evidence in varying degrees that control of the loan often transfers to her husband or other male relative… Women have been seen redirecting loans to men right in front of their bank officers.”

The Relative Success and Near-Misses of Microfinance
Another post on Kristof’s blog asks the questions, “Does the aid world exaggerate the benefits of microloans? How much do they help?” Kristof posts an answer from three economics professors. The professors’ analysis of evaluations of MFIs suggest that microcredit does not deliver measurable results in “health, education, or women’s empowerment” within 18 months from the date of the loan, but the professors also note that these larger goals are perhaps too much to expect in the short-term.

Microfinance alone is also not always enough to help businesses approach self-sufficiency. The “missing middle” refers to a new class of microentrepreneurs “whose businesses have outgrown traditional microfinance support, but who are unable to access more conventional bank financing.” According to this press release from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), ADB and the country of Japan are contributing funds to women of the “missing middle” in India. The money will go to train women in “financial literacy, business management and other skills,” while also assisting microfinance institutions in India to “review and revise their gender policies and practices” and “remove some of the current constraints faced by women entrepreneurs in accessing financial services.”

Misunderstandings Behind the Scenes
The microlending industry is also fraught with misunderstandings about its inner workings, which have generated controversy in the media. Last November, researcher David Roodman explained in a blog post that the money contributed on Kiva by online lenders does not go directly into the hands of borrowers. In fact, each loan request has already been funded by another institution, one of Kiva’s partner microfinance institutions (MFIs), before the loan is posted to Kiva.

Matt Flannery, the CEO and co-founder of Kiva replied, explaining that pre-disbursal, or the practice of funding loans before they are posted to Kiva, is necessary so that loan recipients do not have to wait once they have been approved, and clarifies that Kiva does not charge interest to its partner MFIs. The New York Times also picked up the story, and this article also drew another response from Kiva’s CEO.

In mid-April, another Times article suggested that in some cases, microfinance institutions actually profit from the interest collected from borrowers. Kiva again responded, this time with a blog post that clarified that while some of its MFI partners charge interest, Kiva vets it Field Partners thoroughly. Kiva also pays for 70% of its operations through optional “tips” from users, and 30% through “foundations and other sources.”

By Kimberly Prosa

Kimberly Prosa holds a BFA in Dance from the Purchase Conservatory and is in the process of completing her Masters in Human Services with a focus in nonprofit management, with research pertaining to international women‘s issues.

For women in many parts of the world, receiving a formal education entails traveling down a path marked by trials and tribulations.  Achieving such a goal should leave these women with a sense of pride, accomplishment and above all, hope that the possibility and power to control their future and their children’s future is now within reach.  Because of this, human rights and women’s rights activists advocate to not only promote and provide educational opportunities for women world wide, but to change the culture of how women are valued and the opportunities and roles they are able to fulfill within their particular community and society at large.

We often think the ultimate goal of our efforts in women’s education is to give women from developing countries a sense of empowerment and opportunities to direct that empowerment towards positive social, economic and eventual cultural change. The concept that education is the key to creating lasting societal changes and solidifying concepts of justice, humanity and equality is a given, but what happens when educated, empowered women are unleashed into a culture that is not ready to accept this new identity? Specifically, how are the dynamics of a traditional marital relationship affected by women’s progress?

An article released by Swapna Majumdar of Womens E-news, provides insight into issues that Indian women in particular face regarding this shift in traditional marital roles as a result of educational equalization. The article focuses on incidents of domestic violence as documented by the Washington based International Center for Research on Women in collaboration with independent Indian researchers. While reports of domestic violence are not a new occurrence in both developing and developed countries, what links the incidents of domestic violence in these particular instances is the fact that these reports share the commonality of educated women facing violence at the hands of their husbands due to their new found empowerment and inability to fit the traditional role of the obedient wife. The most alarming revelation depicted in the article, are the results of a study determining a correlation between an increase in domestic violence and an increase in a woman’s education level along with the revelation that 45% of Indian women are abused by their husbands and nearly 75% of women who reported abuse have attempted suicide.

Allowing progress and equality to have a place in a culture ruled by deep-seeded tradition is perhaps the most difficult and slow going challenge to progression.  However, this information should in no way deter the movement toward equality through the education of women. If anything, these findings should serve to affirm the need for education and the empowerment of women as well as highlight the importance of expanding the message to being more than just something that is meant to be internalized by the women that it directly affects.  In short, this should be a message that is internalized on a societal level. Women will only be able to redefine their roles in society if the expectations and definition of what it means to be a husband and man are re-defined and imparted upon young men. For education to truly change and benefit a society, it must come in many forms and be allowed to integrate its’ concepts into culturally and religiously dominated societies.

Click here to read Swapna Majumdar’s article, http://www.womensenews.org/story/domestic-violence/031106/india-domestic-violence-rises-education

The discrepancy in education between urban and rural areas of India has always difficult to overcome. While some camps opt for strict formal education, others promote alternatives such as media access in rural areas. Recently there have been a few, but innovative approaches to tackle illiteracy as well as education in general. Needless to say, program facilitators have researched and implemented methods according to the needs of specific rural populations.

NGOs in India have worked to battle illiteracy through creative means such as “Same-Language Subtitles” (SLS). This basic methodology used to improve reading skills has been largely promoted by the nonprofit organization PlanetRead. Subtitles come in various languages of India and they also change color in conjunction with what is being said on the screen. The method was first tested in 2002 at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad. Thus the large success of SLS especially with Bollywood songs has shown to increase the knowledge in the number of syllables with the rural population. Further studies continue to reveal that that the use of SLS has improved literacy rates.

Research also finds that more generally, cable television promotes the autonomy of women. In the section concerning India in SuperFreakonimics, authors Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner argue that cable television and women’s education go hand in hand. Their study finds a positive correlation between exposure to cable television and the liberation of women. The book posits that cable television has done more for women than many other government laws by lowering birthrates and encouraging more girls to attend school. Alongside, it is important to consider that a part of this may be also due to the government and NGO sponsored television programs portraying the plight of women and ways in which to overcome gender biases.

Both SLS and cable television are constructive approaches towards women’s rights and education. Nevertheless, the westernization of Bollywood and other Indian media may present a potential future concern. While there continues to be an influx of programs relevant to the rural Indian population, the increase of western or more westernized programs on cable television may prove increasing difficult for rural women to relate to. Furthermore, the increase in the use of English in Bollywood movies and songs could question the legitimacy of using Bollywood as the sole source in literacy programs. In the near future, the English language and the Westernization of media may actually pose a barrier for rural women to obtain the type education that suits their needs.

More recently Deccan Development Society, an NGO based in Hydrabad India, decided to offer women in the village of Zaheerabad region video production workshops. While DDS recognizes the importance of formal education for decision making for women and overcoming gender bias, the organization decided to take a slightly different approach. DDS illuminated that much of what the rural population has to offer, such as their rich knowledge of forestry, farming, etc. can be translated into community media. Media Activisit, DeeDee Halleck who was part of the program says:

“We felt literacy can actually become a constraint for non-literate people whose aural and visual narratives are so powerful. So what else can one think of ? For me the possibility of providing video and audio technologies as a means of expression for the disadvantaged rural women was an exciting idea.”

Ten women attended workshops and had different reasons for why they wanted to learn video production. Some women said they wanted to be able to communicate their lives in a documentary form, while others desired to record government programs that took place in villages so that they would be able to look back at the information that had been taught. As an alternative to literacy, video production becomes a useful means to express the lived realities of these women.
Some of these methods of education also seem to have their pitfalls. For example, in order to be fully knowledgeable of video production, literacy, to some extent may be required. Other times, one may question to what degree can SLS eliminate illiteracy and actually prove useful to educate women about their rights.

SLS, cable televisions and video production have however all proved useful in terms of educational value. The correct method to promote education largely depends upon the interests and the age group of the women programs are dealing with. While younger women may prefer to improve their reading and language skills, older women may favor video production so that they may play a more prominent role in their community.

About the Author: Jeanny Vaidya is Nepalese citizen who is completing a Sociology Major at Davidson College, North Carolina. She is interested in the social development of youth, gender issues and urban poverty. Jeanny has also been a volunteer teacher in Nepal and Pakistan.

By Samantha Watson

Across the globe, education of women is being examined. It is in fact, a major priority within the Millennium Development Goals. The question is, where schools systems fail young women, what other means of empowerment and what other instruments of education can help achieve gender equality, promote wealth, and ail some of society’s biggest failures? Maria Jose Novoa (MJ) of NCBA-CLUSA International (CLUSA) sat down with Samantha Watson (SW), WEP blogger and Assistant Program Manager at CLUSA, to discuss the innovate education model being implemented in CLUSA’s Agricultural Development Programs in Mozambique and its gender affects.

Maria Jose Novoa is a Senior CLUSA Associate. Mrs. Novoa has over 30 years of professional experience working in Africa with rural communities and local institutions in the areas of adult education and rural development, training of trainers, producer organization, gender and advocacy.

SW: Maria Jose, tell me a bit about CLUSAand about the current situation in Mozambique.

MJ: CLUSA works globally to develop cooperative businesses, pre-cooperatives, and civil society groups that function under the cooperative principles in developing countries. In Mozambique, our programming is largely agricultural development and agricultural extension services. We have been in Mozambique since 1995.

Mozambique faced a poorly developed economy and an illiteracy rate of 99% in 1975 when it declared independence from the Portuguese. Two years after independence, the civil war started and lasted until 1992. We are talking about just18 years of peace and development. Today around 47% of the population is literate, but if you look at the gender affects, men have a literacy rate of around 63%, while only 32% of women are literate. The need for development is great, and the gender imbalance is clear.

SW: Has the CLUSA approach to agricultural development always included gender empowerment and education components.

MJ: We started doing literacy work with our farmers in 1997. Our methodology has not been to target women for education, but rather to undertake an educational methodology that is accessible to all and includes women. We function largely through combined elements of three well-established learning approaches:

Reflect Methodology

Paulo Freire Methodology

Pedagogy of Text Methodology

The unique combination of these three approaches, make up the CLUSA Approach to literacy and education. A primary component of our approach is education in native languages.

In Mozambique there are several local languages, but Portuguese is the national language. Our farmers are literate in neither, and the women in particular have less familiarity with Portuguese. While the farmers are eager to jump into learning Portuguese, we find that it is more productive to begin literacy in their native language, and then transition to literacy in the national language, which is necessary for market participation.

This education component is essential to the empowerment of women. Women are often left to the side by agricultural development programs. They take up new technologies at a slower rate, they don’t have the confidence to engage in marketing, they are totally disempowered. Because women are more often kept out of the market, and thus often out of the national language, they benefit greatly from a curriculum that allows them to start in their native language and excel into the national language. Without basic literacy, without fluency in native and national languages, women are excluded from the market. So while the educational component supports our overall goals of agricultural development-it allows for better business, increased marketing, increased learning in a changing market-it most benefits and is most essential to the women farmers, and in some cases it is the only way by which women can go from subsistence farming to commercial farming. Through economic empowerment, gender roles begin to change.

SW: Literacy in and of itself changes gender roles? That seems a bit of an easy solution, can you explain the model/theory further?

MJ: No, literacy is not enough. It is a component. The farmers engage in 3 years of education programming with us, and as such achieve the equivalent of 5 years of formal education, or a primary education. But the learning process and the CLUSA methodology works on changing the ideas of both men and women, as to what the family roles and potential of women are and could be.

Traditionally in Mozambique the men have controlled the assets, money, land and other large economic inputs. However our participatory approach creates a more equitable dynamic in which men and women are expected to lead discussions, to develop ideas and to think critically. These interactions empower, or give self-esteem to the women. However they also provide a forum in which men can see the potential of their female counterparts in action. In these setting, Mozambican men begin to have female colleagues. There is no measuring how this affects their interactions with other women in their lives, but it is a clear impetus for changes in gender roles.

SW: Do you have any quantitative results that prove the effects of this programming? What are the different affects seen in men and women?

MJ: During the last 15 years, over 50,000 farmers, roughly 60% women, have become literate as a result of CLUSA literacy services. In a study, we found that in comparing farmers that participated in literacy programming and those not, the size of their plots almost doubled, regardless of gender. However, we also found that the gap in land size was less between men and women for those who had undergone the literacy training than those who had not.

Regarding women we can say the major impact is on their higher protagonism in the community organizations, as farmers associations or local entities, higher respect from their husbands and families, the level of proficiency and use of improved techniques, systems, matters and information, the access to money and knowledge as tools and means to manage their lives and access better conditions of life.

SW: What further gender programming do you feel should or can be included in agricultural development programs? Does CLUSA have plans to take any of these projects on?

MJ: In my opinion, it would be necessary to maintain the inclusive methodology and include some positive discrimination, helping women to resolve some of the serious dilemmas which determine a more visible and meaningful change in their lives. For example resolving the problems of poor access to water, transportation and cooking fuel would liberate a great portion of women’s time.

It is critical to deepen and develop an equal position for women on several levels:

Group Level:

• Promoting and reinforcing self-esteem of women and a positive image of women in society;
• Promoting the capacity of women to develop, enabling them to participate equitably in all social activities and at all levels of decision making;
• Promoting equal access to and better control of, resources and benefits from economic activity, reproductive choices and community affairs through positive affirmation of women.

Organization Level:

• Promoting and strengthening the capacity of women’s organizations to act on behalf of the development of women’s empowerment and gender equality;
• Promoting and strengthening the capacity of development organizations and organizations of social movements to act in favor of the development of women’s power;
• Working in order to achieve equality of working conditions, safe and respectable for women and men in their workplace.

Institutional Level:

Promoting changes in socio-economic conditions in society that often subordinate women to men, such as laws, educational systems, political participation, violence against women and human rights of women.

Finally, it is important to say that working with women requires more time and persistence given the disadvantaged place they are starting from, relative to men, in the fields of knowledge and know-how and have regarding the technical and scientific knowledge in general and in specific areas, not to mention access to resources and means of generating income and welfare.

SW: In your time working with women farmers and their education, what are the major take-aways that have been impressed on you?

MJ: Functional Literacy is basic to creating positive change in practices and attitudes among people. For instance, recently as part of a Cotton Value Chain Development Project funded the Gates Foundation, we conducted studied the effects of our literacy programming. Positive change has been observed in practices associated with: cultivation and yields, seasonal planning, management, financial management, handling money, weights and measurements, basic health practices, and improved academic performance of their children. Another relevant finding was that when multiple efforts are focused on the same challenge or issue, the results are magnified

SW: Any final words?

MJ: In areas where isolation, illiteracy and poverty are predominant, Functional Literacy is a key component of any coordinated effort to bring about long lasting and dynamic change. You can’t seriously discuss development while excluding education.

Literacy and numeracy in our opinion is a critical component for consistent growth and development and to the effective participation of the community in decisions affecting the community and the nation. In addition, one of the fundamental objectives of Adult literacy and numeracy is to get people to efficiently utilizing their knowledge and undertake further learning in order to improve the quality of their lives and to promote their overall development (personal, social, economic, and cultural).

Today, there is a lot of talk about food security, in my opinion, effective food security should mean much more than better agriculture and access to food. It is not possible to create sustainable foundation for food security without promoting education and health.