Lancôme, a French cosmetic and fragrance house that is part of L’Oréal, recently announced a new initiative, designed to combat illiteracy among women.
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The program, called Write Her Future, is a global commitment that also aims to give a voice to this relatively unknown yet universal issue that affects both developed and developing countries.
Illiteracy is indeed a global issue. In the United States, 7.7 percent of young women are affected by illiteracy, according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a U.S. government agency.
But the problem is even more widespread. For the past 20 years, the share of illiterate women has not changed: A staggering 76 million young women around the world are illiterate, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
There are many reasons to address illiteracy. Project Literacy, a global campaign founded by educational products and services provider Pearson, shares evidence that shows knowing how to read and write not only increases self-confidence and career prospects, but also allows people to lead longer and healthier lives.
Why Girls
Girls’ education has become one of the major challenges of various development programs as young illiterate women are too often forgotten. They drop out of school as teenagers and are suddenly deprived of a voice as they are propelled into an adult lifestyle with new responsibilities, some of them becoming wives and mothers quite early. From then on, learning to read and write is no longer a priority for them – and once they have dropped out of school, the opportunity to get back on the path of basic learning does not exist.
Giving young women the tools they need to become literate could develop their talents and skills, build or strengthen their economic independence, and provide them with access to more information, while allowing them to take care of their children. Studies show that a child born to a literate mother is 50 percent more likely to survive beyond the age of 5. Literacy also allows young women to claim their rights and participate in the decisions made by their community.
Providing Support
In its first step to fighting female illiteracy, Lancôme has partnered with CARE, an international humanitarian agency working in 94 countries.
Lancôme also commits alongside CARE to invest 2 million euros (approximately 2.48 million U.S. dollars) over the next five years.
The first literacy program of Write Her Story is now being introduced in Morocco; two other programs will follow this year in Guatemala and Thailand. These three programs will directly benefit more than 8,000 women and indirectly benefit more than 40,000 people.
The Write Her Future project is an important one, the partners note. Lancôme points out that “knowing how to read and write means having the freedom to express yourself fully and build your own future freely.”