Get Educated about Literature

The good news about our world today is that women are becoming educated and literate at an unprecedented rate. In 1640, only 10 percent of us could sign our name. By 1700, this number had increased to 60 percent, and the numbers are expected to rise! [3] Perhaps you are wondering what literacy means to you, and how it could possibly help you form female alliances and relationships.

The truth is, literature is becoming an important medium through which women can connect with others. In the past, we have been isolated and limited to a domestic sphere. There were no coffeehouses or clubs for us to visit and socialize in. While our husbands "turned to their own sex for friendship and intellectual converstation, there was no organized way for a woman to meet others, women or men, who shared her intellecual interests. . . ." [4] Through literacy, however, this situation is changing, and women are finding new ways to reach out into the social world . "Once they have been admitted, through literacy, to the possibility of personal and social improvement, women can never again be wholly excluded ." [5]

In this new and exciting world of literature and female interaction, there are several emerging leaders who are breaking traditions, writing literature for women, and producing a new sense of female community.

Would you like to find out more about these women?

 

 

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