Female Literacy and Access to Information in Asia - Assessing Maternal Health Impacts

The purpose of this paper is to explore the gap in literacy rates of women in developing areas of Asia and the correlation of these gaps with women’s literacy that consequently affect their reproductive health. While it is generally accepted among those who live in industrialized nations that literacy and information are related to economic progress and social wellbeing, access to them remains unequal and many who live in developing regions remain excluded from the benefits that accompany them. The research reported in this paper focuses on this problem as it relates to the lives of women with special attention to literacy and reproductive and child health issues. The first section treats this topic from an historical perspective. The remaining section looks at current conditions. A quantitative data analysis is conducted to demonstrate the current correlations between female literacy and indicators of reproductive and population health in Asia. The quantitative findings of this paper are that there is a definite correlation between female literacy and better health outcomes for mothers and children.

本研究旨在探究亚洲发展中地区女性识字率的差距，以及此类差距与女性识字水平的关联，而女性识字水平会进而影响女性的生殖健康。尽管工业化国家的民众普遍认为，识字能力与信息获取关乎经济发展与社会福祉，但此类资源的获取仍存在不平等现象，诸多发展中地区居民仍无法享有其带来的各项福利。本研究聚焦于这一与女性生活息息相关的议题，并特别关注女性识字、生殖健康与儿童健康相关问题。本文第一部分从历史视角展开该主题的论述，其余部分则聚焦当前现状。本研究通过定量数据分析，揭示当前亚洲地区女性识字率与生殖健康及人口健康指标之间的关联。本研究的定量分析结果表明，女性识字率与母婴健康状况改善之间存在显著关联。