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participation in micro-credit programs administered by NGOs in Nepal. These programs,which included a highly diverse literacy component, lasted about four years and created 6,500savings and loans groups attending to more than 130,000 women. The study found thatparticipants in these micro-credit groups reported greater self-confidence and an improvedrole in decision-making than women in programs with no literacy component; however, thewomen attributed these gains more to their working in groups than to the literacy program andeven to their access to credit. Ashe and Parrott found that a significant impact of participationin the savings/literacy programs was that the women were more likely to send their childrento school – which must be taken as a strong indication of psychological empowerment. Thewillingness of literacy participants to send their children to school was also documented in areview of 43 programs with a literacy component financed by the World Bank (Abadzi,2003a).Through qualitative studies, the empowerment of women in the form of self-esteemand self-confidence has been detected in a variety of settings. Drawing on case study researchin Brazil, Stromquist (1997) found that literacy program participants reported deeperawareness of their environment, greater confidence in a variety of social activities, and greaterself-esteem; Egbo’s study of literate women in Nigeria (2002) found they gained greaterknowledge of their rights and became confident enough to participate in community mattersand make autonomous decisions in the household; working in Zambia, Farrell (204) foundthat neo-literates developed greater feelings of competence, which the evaluator took as amanifestation of self-esteem. Feelings of self-empowerment have been detected in evaluationsof REFLECT programs (using adaptations of Freirean consciousness-raising approaches toliteracy) in El Salvador, Bangladesh, and Uganda (Archer & Cottingham, 1996). The casestudy of women in Bangladesh within the same investigation found that women in literacycircles improved their confidence and self-efficacy for action within the household but notsufficiently to become involved in any civic organization.Burchfield (1996, cited in Moulton, 1997), comparing women in Nepal whocompleted literacy programs at least a year earlier to a group who did not enroll in suchprograms, explicitly explored the concept of empowerment. Of the 40 indicators ofempowerment used by Burchfield, three-fourth were found to show significant differences infavor of the literate women. Participating women manifested a greater sense of confidence inexpressing opinions, in discussing politics, in talking about issues such as men’s drinking andbeating their wives, and in checking their children’s attendance and progress in school. Asubsequent study by Burchfield, Hua, Baral, and Rocha in Nepal (2002a) compared nonparticipantswith those who had participated different amounts of time in the literacy program.This study, based on structured-item responses, found clear benefits for women who hadparticipated at least two years in a literacy program compared to non-program participants,showing greater political knowledge (knew the minimum voting age, the names of politicalrepresentatives), thinking that they themselves could serve as political representatives, andregistering to vote in national elections. Benefits were also found regarding communityparticipation as women in the literacy programs had become members of a community group,had participated in community decisions, and had awareness of both sex trafficking of girlsand domestic violence. A similar study was conducted by Burchfield, Hua, Saxo, and Rochain Bolivia (2002b), this time comparing impacts between non-participant women and womentwo-years following program participation. The instrument items were similar to those used inthe Nepal study, but included questions on awareness of laws against violence and4
discrimination, of the protection of women in municipal plans, and of the incorporation ofwomen in such plans. Benefits for program participants were much higher than for nonparticipants.And these benefits persisted years after literacy program participation.A study, notable for its careful design and thorough assessment, was conducted byKagitcibasi, Goksen, and Gulgoz (2005) focusing on the impacts on women of a nationwideliteracy program in Turkey. The study included pre-test/post-test measurements, supported bycomparisons between literates and non-literates, and a follow-up one year later. On the basisof responses to a social participation scale, a family cohesion scale, and open-ended questionson household decision-making, self-concept, and self-efficacy, the pre/post tests documentedstatistically significant gains in all variables, except self-efficacy and household decisionmaking.The program participant/non-participant comparison found significant differences insocial participation and self-efficacy. An important feature of the Turkish study is that itincluded a TV recall and comprehension test comparing literacy participants at the beginningand at the end of their program. The gains found were substantial, which led the researchers tohypothesize that “learning to read initiates a chain reaction of changes in the cognitiveprocessing system” (p. 483) – an uncommon assertion given today’s reluctance in severalacademic circles to consider that literacy can facilitate more complex reasoning and analysis.The Turkish study also found that gains detected at the end of program participation (exceptfor family cohesion) were sustained or increased over time.In summary, the research review shows that, by far, the most common type ofempowerment is identified as feelings of self-esteem and self-confidence, which indicates thatliteracy often leads to psychological empowerment. Curiously, high levels of confidence havebeen found to best the most important outcome, even in workplace literacy programs centeredon job skills acquisition (Evan, Waite, & Admasachew, 2009). A substantial body of evidenceshows that these dimensions of empowerment emerge independent of whether the literacyprograms engage in functional or critical approaches, regardless of cultural and nationalcontexts, despite the short durations of literacy programs (typically between four and ninemonths), and irrespective of research methodology. Self-esteem, or one’s assessment of one’sown worth, can be considered a personal condition that precedes social and political action.An individual sense of confidence can lead to incipient manifestations of social engagementand political behavior. Given that lack of political will is a constant problem hinderingimplementation of sustained literacy programs, it is clear that psychological empowermentshould serve to create new political actors who then will be able to express the political willneeded for successful literacy program design and execution. Simply put, psychologicalempowerment is a major ingredient of social capital.Cognitive empowerment can occur through literacy programs, but seems to be moredependent on both the content of the literacy program and the neo-literates’ ability to continuetheir literacy development by moving into some form of literacy habit. Neo-literates oftenregister increases in political knowledge regarding political parties and laws as well as invoting and participating in community and group activities; in several instances, women inliteracy programs develop greater understanding of gender discrimination and inequities intheir society. Literacy may not be a higher source of cognitive development than oraldiscourse, as Street argues (1988), but the role of literacy in wider aspects of cognitivedevelopment has not received contemporary attention, aside from the contributions byKagitcibasi et al. (2005) drawn from their quasi-experiment in Turkey, which give some5
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