There is evidence to show that women who receive greater education and training will earn more money, and spend it on the education and health of their children (Coonrad, 1998b). This turns out to be an upleading spiral where literacy and education bring about overall change in the dynamics of an individual, of a family, community and village. In fact, the World Bank (2006) calls the restriction of economic opportunity for women as bad economics, as under investing in women limits economic growth and slows down progress in poverty reduction.

This is an issue of empowerment and how it can be measured. Is literacy a definite /sole pathway leading to empowerment or does it encompass other things also like life skills, vocational skills, etc? But one thing is pretty clear that literacy is the first and basic step as without that, other skills cannot be learnt and retained. Empowerment is ‘enablement’ by changing the person, changing structures, replacing or recreating conventional institutions and/or rearranging the environment. Empowerment transpires over time and, usually, it is not instantaneous. As the women home workers are empowered they move from silence to articulation, from invisibility to recognition, and from isolation to organisation.

In the ‘Women in Habitat’ project sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, as a step towards empowerment, rural women were trained to become entrepreneurs. They were trained as per their interest areas and choices on habitat services (like house construction, tanka construction), and habitat products (like gamla, jali, fencing poles, tiles, etc.). At all the three locations (Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan) the women were more or less illiterate and had little exposure to the outside world.

The duration of the project was two years and in the course of these two years, tremendous difference was seen in these women at all the three locations. They were initially hesitant to become entrepreneurs and to take the lead. The trainings were so designed that the women were slowly exposed to technologies as well as aspects like health, safety, savings, entrepreneurial skills and life skills such as bargaining, articulation, negotiation, confidence building, organising, etc., so that they become better equipped to handle any situation and take appropriate decisions.

At the end of two years, the women were enthusiastic, open and vocal, but their hesitation was now as how to make calculations, keep records and maintain accounts. This called for the need to enhance their literacy levels as otherwise all the efforts done on training were not going to amount to much.

The women were given TARA Akshar and TARA Ganit training. These are courses designed and developed by Development Alternatives, which help women to learn Hindi and simple mathematics (in a scientific way) with the help of instructors through laptops in a set duration of time. The need was realised because women were able to learn to make habitat-related products when trained but the recall value was poor as they were not able to write. Secondly, they were able to do some simple mental maths but were not able to work on proportions of mixtures, dimensions and sizes of products, etc. This was proving to be a severe bottleneck in their work in becoming entrepreneurs. As a next step, these women were imparted TARA Akshar and TARA Ganit training in the duration of about three weeks. The results were superb.

The women who could not gather the courage to think about running an enterprise are now responding with confidence to the order given to them to make products like 400 fencing poles. The great thing is that they are making this beautifully with a smooth finish. There has been a change in their daily life as regards the normal hisab – kitab and in the making and managing of the family budget. They have developed the practice of making a list of requirements before going to the market, and have started taking interest in the education of their children. They say that if they had been trained earlier, they would have fared many times better by this time and have improved their standard of living. They have decided to read the books which have been given to them under this programme and practice accordingly. They say that they will be successfully carrying on their business because they have learnt to read and write and maintain a statement of their business.

As per the field coordinator who has been observing these women after the trainings were completed, ‘they come at the right time and are doing all things like attendance, stocking, hisab – kitab, etc. The name of their enterprise is Mahila Karigarni Mandal. These women keep their place neat and clean and understand their responsibilities. They have managed to start work with their savings. They have their own cash book, stock register, receipt book, attendance register, etc. Letterheads and other kinds of record books have been sent for printing and the process of opening their bank account is in progress.’ These women now feel motivated as now they are able to demand attention from those concerned, to generate the appropriate positive responses, reduce their vulnerability, reduce or, at times, even eliminate their exploitability, availability and enhance the use of social services and resources.

In another study done by Development Alternatives on ‘Mutually Reinforcing Role of Women In Habitat-based Livelihood Services’ in five states of India, it was observed that the current role of women in movement and exposure-related aspects like purchase and marketing activities is found to be limited to organisation heads and other stakeholders. It was also clearly mentioned that women were found to be good in negotiation and bargaining skills. But in none of the organisations were the women actively involved in these activities, which clearly demonstrated that the lower literacy level was becoming a bottleneck in their moving out of their set spheres of work.

In the findings of the same study, women workers expressed their concern for enhancing their education and training levels, as well as of getting regular work, which indicates the extent to which the women are interested in working. One woman from SEWA Nirman very aptly puts it, ‘The exposure we are getting through this work helps us realise and fight for our rights. It makes us realise the skill and efficiency with which we can work.’ The analysis further revealed that for the impact to be substantial and consistent in nature, the involvement of women in the sector has to be increased in a systematic manner, wherein more and more women are educated and trained regularly and demand is created for the work that they are doing.

The literature survey indicates that more women are employed in the informal sector where they are usually concentrated in the labour-intensive unskilled operations. On this basis women are invariably paid lower wages, despite the fact that they work harder and for longer hours than men. Besides the reproductive role of women which calls for the household-related caring and nurturing role, another reason for this is the low literacy level of women due to which they always get less exposure and remain at the back seat in terms of taking decisions even for their own lives.

The concentration of women in labour-intensive and less productive jobs is due to the low literacy levels. If we look into the strength of skilled workforce in construction, it has dwindled substantially from 15.34 per cent in 1995 to 10.57 per cent in 2005, whereas relative proportions of unskilled workers have gone up from 73.08 per cent in 1995 to 82.45 per cent in 2005 (Government of India, 2008b). To make up for this shortage, it becomes imperative to convert semi-skilled or unskilled women workers into skilled workers (Barnabas et al., 2009). Moreover, in India, it is through these services that many gaps (like gender and rural-urban inequities, employment opportunities, inadequate basic education and technical capabilities as to raise farm and non-farm productivity) can be bridged with systematic innovation.

Cultural and local societal restrictions on women’s movement also cause a major impediment to the growth of women in the sector. In the context of rural India, women find themselves trapped within their gender identity and the roles ascribed to this identity. The need to work around the challenges posed is not easy. Cultural and social restrictions can be counteracted only when women are educated and are able to understand their potential as well as raise their concerns at appropriate forums. In this context, basic literacy along with exposure and understanding of society is essential.

In addition, various studies have indicated the positive affect on women and their families as a result of participation in adult literacy programmes. According to one such study in Nepal, women who participate in adult functional literacy classes usually have healthier families; their daughters go to school and have an increased life span. In one working area in Nepal where literacy is combined with an integrated health and community development programme, the literacy rate for girls in primary school (up to class five) increased from 7 per cent in 1995 to 50 per cent in 1995. In another area, it is estimated that girls’ enrollment in primary school increased from 1 per cent in 1975 to 30 per cent in 1995. In this second area, the infant mortality rate declined from 200 per 1000 live births to 30 per 1000 live births and the fertility rate decreased from 2.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent.

The research findings make it clear that literacy is of great help for illiterate women as for them it is a door to the outside world but, at the same time, this is also a fact that for real change to happen literacy is not enough; much more needs to change in women’s lives. This is not to destroy learners’ dreams and hopes, but if women are to gain real power through literacy, the programmes should be such that which assist learners in understanding the society rather than offering false promises. This calls for more ‘inclusive’ training including life skills training along with literacy. q