Women and Literacy
Why is literacy a women's issue? Jennifer Horsman has written about the "social disorganization" of women's lives, a term she uses to deconstruct the concept of choice in the educational lives of many young women (4). For some, the social organization of their home and school lives involves violence, abuse, economic hardship, silencing, pregnancy and/ or children, and the need to work to meet family demands. Accessing a desired level of education is often beyond their control.

Kathleen Rockhill makes the important observation that "literacy is women's work, but not women's right" (5). Ironically, it is the women of the household who are performing the majority of the literacy-related tasks, yet it is the social disorganization of their lives which restricts them from attending literacy programs. Women are also in need of a certain level of literacy skills in order to perform effectively in the areas of work available to them. In other words, in order to enter sales, clerical and secretarial service sectors of the economy, women must be confident with their reading and writing skills. However, the hope of gaining literacy skills in order to secure paid employment is often dashed by a male partner who does not want his wife to leave the domain of the home.

Violence is an issue for many women who decide to enter a literacy program. Reactions from husbands, boyfriends or other family members such as refusal to help with childcare, verbal, emotional and physical abuse, and simple lack of support can barr a woman from exercising her right to improve her education. Ethnicity, language, race, class, mobility, disabilities, age, responsibility for children, geographic location, etc., add to the difficulties faced by women seeking to improve their literacy skills. As conscientious feminist literacy workers, we must make it clear that the focus of the issue should be on the patriarchally induced disorganization of women's lives, and not on women's failure to become literate (6).

The links between literacy and poverty in particular are important in terms of women's lives. Statistics demonstrate that "only 25% of functionally illiterate women are in the paid labour force compared with 50% of women as a whole. Half of all female-headed families live below the poverty line. The rate of illiteracy in this group is much higher than the national average" (7). From these statistics we can conclude that the jobs available to women who have insufficient literacy skills are traditionally the lowest paid, such as domestic work and sewing machine operation. As feminist literacy workers we must consider that some women are simply too busy making ends meet to fit a literacy or upgrading program into their schedules. MSL has identified this concern and therefore offers very flexible, one-on-one tutoring which allows women to schedule their meetings with their tutors at their own convenience.