Empowering Women through Literacy

Ula Gabrielle Gaha

M.A., M.L.I.S.

University of South Carolina

laH SoH

vam

Klingon

laH SoH vam

(Can you read this?)

Source: www.mrklingon.org

Trees do not eat their own fruitsRivers do not drink their own waterCows give milk for others to drink

So also enlightened people use their lives for helping others.

Sanskrit

Source: http://presidentofindia.nic.in/sp260608.html

Illiteracy Statisticsfrom “Illiteracy: The Downfall of American Society”

• In a study of 20 'high income' countries, the US ranked 12th on literacy tests. Illiteracy has become such a serious problem in our country that 44 million adults are now unable to read a simple story to their child. A few other shocking facts:

• 50 percent of adults cannot read a book written at an eighth grade level.

• 20 percent of Americans are functionally illiterate and read below a 5th grade level.

• Nearly half of all Americans read so poorly that they cannot find a single piece of information when reading a short publication.Source: Education-Portal.com, 24 July 2007, http://education-portal.com/articles/Illiteracy:_The_Downfall_of_American_Society.html

National Network to End Domestic Violence

ƒ Nearly 1 in every 4 women are beaten or raped by a partner during adulthood.

ƒ 1 in 6 women & 1 in 33 men have experienced an attempted or completed rape.

3 women are killed by a current or former intimate partner each day in America, on average.

ƒApproximately 2.3 million people each year in the United States are raped &/or physically assaulted by a current or former spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend. Women who were physically assaulted by an intimate partner averaged 6.9 physical assaults per year by the same partner.

Approximately 37% of women seeking injury-related treatment in hospital emergency rooms were there because of injuries inflicted by a current or former spouse/partner.

Source: NNEDV Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Fact Sheet, “Incidence, Prevalence and Severity,” http://www.nnedv.org/docs/Stats/NNEDV_DVSA_factsheet2010.pdf.

National Network to End Domestic Violence

• In 2008, a 24-hour survey of domestic violence programs across the nation found that over 60,000 victims were served in one day. Unfortunately, due to a lack of resources, there were almost 9,000 unmet requests for services.

• ƒ In 2008 the National Domestic Violence Hotline received 236,907 calls, but over 29,000 of those calls went unanswered due to lack of resources.

Source: NNEDV Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Fact Sheet, “Overwhelming Needs Remain,” http://www.nnedv.org/docs/Stats/NNEDV_DVSA_factsheet2010.pdf

Violence Against Women

International Human Rights

• Female infanticide

• Domestic Violence

• Sexual Abuse

• Female Circumcision

• Trafficking in Girls and Women

Source: “Literacy and Violence Against Women,” Women in Literacy: Critical Issues in Literacy, www.proliteracy.org, 2011

Definitions

• Functional Literacy

• Functionally Illiterate

• Illiteracy

• Re-Literacy

• Aliteracy

Source: Dr. Pat Feehan, University of South Carolina, “Libraries, Literacy, and Literature,” November 2010.

Definitions

• Cultural Literacy

• Information Literacy

• Content Area Literacy

Source: Dr. Pat Feehan, University of South Carolina, “Libraries, Literacy, and Literature,” November 2010.

Content Area LiteracyEmpowerment versus Impotency

• Healthcare

• Employment

• Personal Finance

• Home Management

• Daycare

• Legal Rights

Source: Nancy Harvey Davis and Pam Fitzgerald, “Adult New Reader „Street Smart‟ Materials,”

Literacy Clearinghouse

“How Illiteracy Affects Job Prospects”from Illiteracy: The Downfall of American Society

• 3 out of 4 people on welfare can't read.• 20 percent of Americans read below the level

needed to earn a living wage.• 50 percent of the unemployed people who fall

between the ages of 16 and 21 cannot read well enough to be considered functionally literate.

• Between 46 and 51 percent of American adults have an income well below the individual threshold poverty level because of their inability to read.Sources: Education-Portal.com, 24 July 2007, http://education-portal.com/articles/Illiteracy:_The_Downfall_of_American_Society.html

National Institute for Literacy, National Center for Adult Literacy, The Literacy Company, U.S. Census Bureau.

Improving Daily Life

Parental consent forms

Report Cards

GED preparation materials

Job Applications

Filing for government assistance

Balancing a checkbook

Registering to Vote

Recipes

Improving Circumstances

• Finding Legal Aid and Attorneys

• Community Resources/Emergency Numbers

• Legal Rights

• Filing for Divorce

• Child Custody

• Immigration, Naturalization, and Citizenship

Rights & Procedures

“How Illiteracy Affects Society”

• 3 out of 5 people in an American prison can't read.

• 85 percent of juvenile offenders have problems reading.

• Approximately 50 percent of Americans read so poorly that they are unable to perform simple tasks such as balancing a checkbook and reading prescription drug labels.

• To determine how many prison beds will be needed in future years, some states actually base part of their projection on how well current elementary students are performing on reading tests.Source: Illiteracy: The Downfall of American Society

Healthcare

• Prenatal Care

• Signing Consent for Treatment

• Using condoms

• Birth control choices

• Understanding Self-Care

• Substance Abuse/Self Help Groups (AA)

• Legislation Regarding Healthcare & Reproductive Rights

46% of American adults cannot understand the label on their prescription medicine.

Source: Journal of American Medical Association

Statistics: 1996

Although women in the United States have

steadily increased their educational

status, the fact that 23 percent of women

aged 25 and over have not gone beyond

high school reveals that, as a

group, women are still educationally

disadvantaged.

Source: Susan Imel, “Women and Literacy: Trends and Issue Alerts,” ERIC Clearinghouse on

Adult, Career, and Vocational Education, Columbus, OH, 1996

National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) : 2007

• Literacy is defined as "using printed and written

information to function in society, to achieve one's

goals, and to develop one's knowledge and potential.”

• Twenty-two percent of adults were Below Basic

(indicating they possess no more than the most simple

and concrete literacy skills) in quantitative

literacy, compared with 14 percent in prose literacy

and 12 percent in document literacy.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2007). The Condition of

Education 2007 (NCES 2007–064), Indicator 18.

National Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) : 2007

Differences in average literacy scores were apparent by sex and race/ethnicity. Women scored higher than men on prose and document literacy in 2003, unlike in 1992.

Men outperformed women on quantitative literacy in both years. Male scores declined in prose and document literacy from 1992 to 2003, while female scores increased in document and quantitative literacy.

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2007). The Condition of Education 2007 (NCES 2007–064), Indicator 18.

Facts about Adult Literacy Rates in South Carolina and from the 2000 U.S. Census

828,804 adults in SC, aged 16 and over, do not have a high school diploma. This is 26.58% of the adult

population. This statistic includes teens 16 and older who dropped out of school, but does not include the

teens who are still enrolled in school.

• Of this number, 31% are aged 60 or older• It is evenly divided between males and females, with

men constituting 49.4%, females 49.6%

• 6% use English as a second language or speak no English at all.

• 29% are African-American, 57% are white

2000 U.S. Census

• According to the Associated Press, half the adults in SC without a high school diploma survive on less than $12,000 a year

• In Columbia:about 1/3 of adults read below a 6th grade level

• Many are older adults who attended segregated schools before 1970

• Some lived in rural areas, worked on farms, and had poor school attendance (before attendance became mandatory)

Now What? Grassroots Efforts

• If you can read, you can teach someone to read

• Volunteer to explain healthcare information

• Visit Homeless Shelters/Women’s Shelters & offer Storytimes

• Volunteer at Your Local Public Library

• Community Partnerships

Now What?Grassroots Efforts

Reach Out & Read

Medical College of Georgia, General Pediatrics Clinic (Augusta, Richmond Co.)

Turning Pages

Adult Literacy Tutoring (Columbia, SC)

Smart Start

The United Way, GA

http://www.smartstartga.org/

Additional Sources

Manjari Singh, Reference Specialist at Indiana University http://www.indiana.edu/~reading/ieo/bibs/litcyus.html

Trends in Educational Equity for Girls & Women

http://nces.ed.gov/pubs2005/equity/index.asp

ProLiteracy

www.proliteracy.org

Family Violence Prevention Fund

www.endabuse.org

Klingon Translator

www.mrklingon.org

ALA Adult New Readers/Literacy Project

www.buildliteracy.org

Sources: NNEDV

•U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice and Centers

for Disease Control and Prevention. (July 2000). Extent, Nature, and

Consequences of Intimate Partner

•Violence: Findings From the National Violence Against Women Survey.

Washington, DC. Tjaden, P.,&Thoennes,N)

• U.S. Department of Justice, Prevalence, Incidence, and Consequences

of Violence Against Women:Findings from the National Violence

Against Women Survey (1998).

•Bureau of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Homicide Trends from

1976-1999, (2001).

Sources: NNEDV

•National Institute of Justice and Centers for Disease

Control and Prevention, "Extent, Nature, and Consequences

of Intimate Partner Violence: Findings from the National

•Violence Against Women Survey." July 2000.

•Tjaden, P. & Thoennes, N. (2000, July). Extent, nature and

consequences of intimate partner violence: Findings from

the National Violence Against Women Survey. (NCJ

•181867). Washington, DC: National Institute of

Justice/Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. from

http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/181867.pdf

Sources: NNEDV

•Rand, M. Violence-Related Injuries Treated in Hospital

Emergency Room Departments 5 (Bureau of Justice

Statistics, 1997).

• Bachman, R. and Salzman, L., Bureau of Justice

Statistics, Violence Against Women: Estimates From the

Redesigned Survey 1 (January 2000).

• McDonold, R et al. (2006).“Estimating the Number of American

Children Living in Partner Violent Families.”Journal of Family

Psychology,30(1),137-142

Sources: NNEDV

• Whitfield, C.L., Anda, R.F., Dube, S.R., & Felitti, V.J. (2003). “Violent childhood experiences and the risk of intimate partner violence in adults.” Journal of Interpersonal •Violence, 18, 166-185. • Havelin, K. (2000). Incest ‘Why Am I Afraid To Tell?’ Minnesota; Capstone Press. • Wolfe, D.A., Wekerle, C., Reitzel, D. and Gough, R. 1995. “Strategies to Address Violence in the Lives of High Risk Youth.” In Ending the Cycle of Violence: Community •Responses to Children of Battered Women, edited by E. Peled, P.G. Jaffe and J.L Edleson. New York, NY: Sage Publications. • Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice and Statistics, “Intimate Partner Violence in the United States, 1993-2004.” December 2006

Sources: NNEDV • National Center for Injury Preventionand Control. (2003). Costs of

Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States.)

• U.S. General Accounting Office. Domestic Violence Prevalence and

Implications for Employment Among Welfare Recipients 19 (Nov. 1998).

• Lloyd, S., & Taluc, N. (1999). “The effect of male violence on female

employment.” Violence Against Women, 5(4), 370-392

• Bureau of National Affairs, Special Rep. No. 32, Violence and Stress: The

Work/Family Connection 2 (1990).

• Miller, T., M. Cohen & B. Wiersema (January 1996). “Victims Costs &

Consequences: A New Look.” Washington, D.C.; National Institute of

Justice Report, U.S. Department of Justice.

• Kathryn Andersen Clark et al., A Cost-Benefit Analysis of the Violence

Against Women Act of 1994, 8 Violence Against Women 417 (2002).

Sources: NNEDV

• Faily, 48, 481-490; Bybee, D.I., & Sullivan, C.M (2002). The process through which a strengths-based intervention resulted in positive change for battered women over time.

• American Journal of Community Psychology, 30 (1), 103-132

• Lyon, E.,Lane S. (2009). Meeting Survivors’ Needs: A Multi-State Study of Domestic Violence Shelter Experiences. National Resource Center on Domestic Violence and

• UConn School of Social Work. Found at http://www.vawnet.org .

• Domestic Violence Count 07 A 24- hour census of domestic violence shelters and services across the United States.The National Network to End Domestic Violence (Jan.

• 2008).

Sources: NNEDV

• “Intimate partner Violence in the U.S.” U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics, Jan 2008.; Cassandra Archer et al., Institute for

• Law and Justice, National Evaluation of the Grants to Encourage Arrest Policies Program 14 (Nov. 2002).

• “Intimate Partner Violence in the U.S.” U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs: Bureaus of Justice Statistics. Jan. 2008.

• “Intimate Partner Violence in the U.S.” U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs: Bureaus of Justice Statistics. Jan. 2008.

• Berk, R.A., Newton, P.J., & Berk, S.F. (1986). What a difference a day makes: An empirical study of the impact of shelters for battered women. Journal of Marriage and the