ABSTRACT
Basic literacy rates for men and women in the United States generally equalized in the nineteenth century-concurrently with the rise of the common school and the entrance of women into the teaching profession. But in the developing world today, gender remains a factor in the achievement of literacy, although boys and girls are beginning to make progress in achieving equal access to primary education. According to UNESCO’s World Education Report 2000, nearly two-thirds of the world’s illiterate adults were women. The United States is currently in danger of compromising Iraqi women’s future by giving in to fundamentalists. In the United States, the National Center for Educational Statistics is currently analyzing data from the 2003 National Assessment of Adult Literacy. The UN has been active in bringing women’s rights to the forefront of national policy over two decades.
