Why is women’s literacy key for El Salvador?

El Salvador , a Central American country of approximately six million with nearly one third of its population living abroad (mainly in the U.S.), has a trend of low levels of social investment in spite of its status as a middle-income country. One example is education, an essential area for the human development of any country. For instance, in 2007, the public investment in education represented 2.7% of GDP, which according to the 2006 World Bank indicators, positions El Salvador among the lowest four countries in Latin America ("Notebooks on Human Development," May 2007/no. 6, UNDP El Salvador).

The relatively low public investment in education is reflected, among other indicators, in the levels of illiteracy of the adult population. According to data from DIGESTIC, the Ministry of Economy’s Office on Statistics and Census, in 2006, 15% of the Salvadoran adult population was illiterate: this percentage rose to 23% in the countryside. Disaggregating by sex, 12 of every 100 men could not read, while 17 of every 100 women could not read. Clearly it is women, particularly those in the rural areas, who have the most limited access to educational opportunities, given the pernicious combination of low public investment in education and a culture that still discriminates against women from birth.

It was in this context, in 2005, that the SHARE Foundation: Building a New El Salvador Today began supporting a literacy project in the Municipality of Chalchuapa, Department of Santa Ana. Currently the project benefits 62 women between the ages of 13 and 72. The women of the cooperative organization, FEDECOOPADES, and the local association of women, AMAIG, who fulfill the requirements of the Ministry of Education implement the project with the objective for students to obtain official certificates once they complete each one of three levels of instruction.

The women who participate in the literacy groups have much in common: the reality of poverty; status as heads of households; income from the informal sector or temporary agricultural activities; domestic violence; little access to education; membership in a cooperative or an association of women; and, most importantly, an enormous desire to create better conditions for themselves and for their children.

Claudia Zambrano, of AMAIG, and Mercedes Fields, of FEDECOOPADES, have the responsibility of facilitating six literacy groups and completing the administrative proceedings for the Ministry of Education. In addition, when a student cannot arrive at class, they visit her in her house so that she does not fall behind in coursework. In addition to the use of math, language and science books and the pedagogical tools that the Ministry provides, Claudia and Mercedes incorporate gender analysis into their classes.

Gladis Noemí Rosales, 23 years old, is nine months pregnant. She belongs to a cooperative suffering from the coffee crisis. In 2007, in spite of economic difficulties, the resistance of her (illiterate) partner, and the ridicules of her seven-year-old son, she completed the second of the three literacy levels. Today she can sign her name, slowly read the newspaper (now she knows what happens beyond her cooperative, even what happens in other countries), read the announcements her son brings home from school, and even help him with his homework. She has gained the respect of the men of her house and of herself. She no longer fears speaking in cooperative meetings.

Marta Elvira Hernandez also has finished the second level. She lives in an urban-marginal community of Chalchuapa. On January 6, 2008, her third-oldest son, who was 17 years old was murdered by 18 gun shots, supposedly at the hands of the Mara 18 gang. In spite of such a recent and serious loss, she describes the situation calmly: years of accumulated pain from personal experience have conditioned her to hold her sadness inside in order to continue.

Last year, Marta Elvira won third prize in the composition contest organized by SHARE together with literacy groups from around the country. Marta Elvira, in her piece, expressed for the first time the violent treatment of which she has been the object for many years. The ability to learn to read and write has opened up the opportunity for her to express her daily reality and, during the competition, the opportunity to share it with her companions. Literacy will serve her in her struggle to achieve respect in her home.

For the participants, literacy has become a critical right and tool: women who have been denied the right to education and pushed to the margins of society are working to end the cycle of discrimination and powerlessness.