The impact of Female Literacy in Mali

Even today, literacy is a right denied to nearly one-fifth of the world's adult population. Nearly two-thirds of illiterate people (64%) are women. Globally, only 88 adult women for every 100 adult men are considered literate. At the World Forum on Education for All (Dakar, 2000), the international community committed to improving adult literacy rates, particularly among women, by 50% by 2015 and to ensuring equitable access to basic education and lifelong learning programmes for all adults. 'Literacy is crucial for every child, young person and adult to acquire the basic skills they need to cope with the problems they may encounter in life, and it is an essential step in basic education, which is an indispensable means of effective participation in the economy and society of the 21st century.' United Nations General Assembly on the United Nations Literacy Decade (2003-2012) in 2002).