Other titles: Education for All: Making It Work. Innovation Series; No. 8 Creator: Aksornkool, Namtip Publisher: UNESCO Date: 1995 Language: English Coverage: China Extent: 37 pages Abstract: Begun in the early 1990s, The Skills-Based Literacy Programme for Women aims to improve the lives of rural Chinese women by linking literacy education with skills training in agriculture and other forms of income generation. Xuan Wei County, Yunnan Province, was chosen as the seat of the project because of high female illiteracy rates and the need for improved agricultural skills to cope with the area's rugged terrain. Before the program, women accustomed to low status and endless labor did not see literacy as relevant to their lives, and men objected to their wives and daughters taking time from their work to attend classes. Project organizers and the All China Women's Federation carried out publicity campaigns to gain community support for women's education. Relevant instructional materials were produced within the regional context to show how women's economic self-reliance, self-confidence, self-respect, self-improvement, and status within society would be enhanced under four conditions: realistic portrayal .of women's actual condition and double responsibilities as housekeepers and economic producers; provision of locally relevant knowledge skills to improve women's economic productivity; realization that this improved productivity would affect the balance of power between men and women, making it more equitable; and the lessening of women's domestic workload. Project evaluations and outcomes are discussed. A final section describes the program's philosophy of empowerment, the All China Women's Federation, and the "Sisters of a Thousand Yuan" award for successful women. photographs.) |
Daughters of the earth: Skills-based literacy programme for women China