The title of the paper has two debatable definitions. What is empowerment and what is literacy? In an excellent report 'Women's Empowerment in South Asia" (March 1994) Srilatha Batliwala needed 118 pages to deal with the concepts and practices of empowerment. A glossary for literacy terms, a base document of UNESCO called "A literate world" lists 19 items. If so much can be written about a definition or a meaning surely further clarification in the context of South Asia's diversity is needed.

The list on literacy terms comprises UNESCO's definition: "A literate is a person who, with understanding, can both read and write a short simple statement on his everyday life." The backgrounder to the invitation for this forum mentions that this popular view of literacy is insufficient in the context of the different ethnic and linguistic cultures of Asia. 1 will take it still further and use the ideas of the Brazilian educator Paulo Freire's. For him and many others who have embraced his work, literacy is a part of the process by which illiterate people become aware of their personal situation- and learn to do something about improving it. I adhere to his definition.

That leaves me with explanation of the word empowerment. What do I as a feminist (which by the way means that I strive for equal opportunities for men and women) understand by an empowered man or woman? Is it someone who can read and maybe write a simple statement on her everyday life, value free, or do I consider empowerment a process? A process of becoming aware of a situation in which you find yourself and want to come to grips with. To get to know the forces of patriarchy that makes you somebody that you are not? It should be clear that again 1 choose the process approach for empowerment.

Empowerment as a process links up with Paulo Freire's definition of literacy. Literacy feeds into empowerment but is not conditional. The most important part of the process is the in is that you get a grip on life. Decisions can be made and adhered to by you. You learn to do something about your own situation. That there are possibilities of change and that you recognize the forces that prevent change or gendered development.

As far as literacy is concerned, women are particularly underprivileged. During the course of this Second Asia Regional Literacy Forum, gender aggregated data show the discrepancy of literacy percentages between men and women, between boys and girls. Linking it with empowerment clearly girls are not considered equal to boys and do not get the same education. The reasons for this situation are complex- physical, economical, political, historical and sociocultural. These six dimensions of empowerment are interrelated. 1 argue that not all carry equal weight. The socio-cultural context is all pervasive, all permeating and decisive. With some examples I will show that the sociocultural context slows down the process of literacy by keeping women disempowered.

The Directorate General of Netherlands Development Cooperation for which I was working, before my secondment to UNESCO, coined four of the six dimensions of empowerment or autonomy. The four dimensions are considered relevant to target development interventions. Other like minded countries and organisation like OECD have accepted them. To illustrate my point the physical and political dimension of autonomy and its overriding sociocultural context are used.

Physical empowerment is being master of your own body. It should in principle be your own decision whether to have a child, to practice family planning or to have an abortion. In this region, however, sex is often not discussed between partners or the willingness or the physical ability of the woman to bear another child not questioned. Refusal to be intimate when you expect the man to have visited someone else before he comes to you is culturally almost impossible. Women often cannot demand sterilization or anti conception pills without the husband (and family) doubting the fidelity of the women. A Bombay based research proved that 99% of abortions took place of female fetuses and had nothing to do with the physical condition of the pregnant woman. Often women do not know how their womb functions. They suffer from Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDS) without realization that this is not a normal healthy condition. What to speak of prevention of contracting AIDS!

Organizations can produce all the pamphlets in the world to explain the causes and consequences of being HIV positive but if one is unable to say NO when it matters, the booklet is 'barren.'

The same argument can explain the minimal participation of women in politics. Socio-cultural impediments make a reservation policy necessary otherwise women do not get a say in local politics or do not get a ticket from a political party. A recent UNICEF sponsored research indicated that violence against women in local governing bodies is increasing. Women approve documents by affixing their new learned signature or by inking their thumb and impress documents they do not understand. They are not empowered enough to say: "I need training" or "explain it to me for I do not understand."

She usually sits at the back of the meeting and does not dare speak in front of men because it is socially not accepted. Women want latrines so as not to suffer or be exposed in public. Women do not want a grand scale irrigation project that alienates their labour and takes them far from home and children. The jasmine and tobacco crops are sprayed with pesticides which causes rashes to the skin and make women and the children they carry sick. Women are unable to participate in the direction of development, disempowered to decide what is good and healthy for them and the family.

Literacy, the ability to read a document or a letter, the ability to write, to consciously sign for agreement connects with the ability to voice demands, to speak out in front of men, to effect balanced development for both men and women. For men it is essential to let women speak and to listen to women's needs for they may be different then theirs. Changing the status of women depends on changing the attitude of men, particularly in their role as fathers and husbands and in their relationships with women as equal partners. UNESCO would like to be an intermediary to provide a different concept of masculinity. To develop and disseminate curriculum resources and textbooks depicting non-violent and non-aggressive behaviour. Provide training for boys, girls and educators in emotional expressions and inter-group communication. To promote change in the representation of men in mass media to counter any impact of violent images of masculinity of movies and television. This was decided in an expert group meeting in Oslo in September 1997 as part of UNESCO's Culture of Peace programme.

After highlighting the importance of addressing the sociocultural context of literacy and empowerment 1 want to finish by sharing a few notes on a program called Education for Women's Empowerment (Mahila Samakhya). A program carried over from India by colleagues to Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda and possibly Pakistan and Palestine. It is a programme stimulating the empowerment of women so as to take control of their own lives. With this aim, the project provides the crucial conceptual and practical link between empowerment and education. The premise is that empowerment is essential for women to be active participants in the educational process. Mahila Samakhya was born from the need to translate the vision of the National Educational Policy which states that education can be used as an agent of change. Operationalising this commitment, literacy is perceived as one component of an overall strategy of empowerment. The project attempts to create a demand for literacy (Department of Education, Go], Education for All, the Indian Scene, subtitled Widening Horizons p.35-38) However the pace at which this is accomplished is determined by the women themselves. No target-setting, if you please!

One of the most interesting aspects of the project is the articulation of 10 nonnegotiable principles. All are valid but 1 will only mention a few: women have to consolidate their independent time and therefore the pace of the program cannot be hurried. You cannot take short cuts. Project functionaries are facilitators and do not act directive. In this way activists within government service or from outside can be appointed as coordinators. These women are used to work with women groups on an equal basis. Education should be understood as a process which enables women to question, conceptualize and seek answers. They act and reflect on their actions and raise new questions, exactly as Paulo Freire defined literacy: "illiterate people becoming aware of their situation and learn to do something about it." In Mahila Samakhya there is art acceptance that as an environment of learning is created, what women decide to learn first, may not be reading or writing. Women's priorities for learning must be respected.

In the project a change in gender relations is taking place. Women have proved to be effective in local political bodies and have sent their daughters to school. Families are embracing smaller family norms, women work and decide how to spend the money, they want their husbands to stop drinking and object to household violence. For themselves they want to learn to read and write when they are not too tired in the night. They want to understand their situation and bring change in their status in society. For me it is in that order: once a process of empowerment is set in motion, literacy in its broadest definition will follow.

Contact Info:

Riet Turksma
Sr. Gender Expert
UNESCO Regional Office, New Delhi