Women
What Does the Future Hold for Them?

Three Ways a Woman Can Improve Her Lot

Education. There are about 600 million illiterate women in the world—most of whom have never had the chance to go to school. You yourself may have had little schooling, but that doesn't mean that you cannot educate yourself. It isn't easy, but many women have succeeded. "Religious reasons can play an important role in motivating adults to acquire literacy skills," explains the book Women and Literacy. Your being able to read the Bible for yourself is a fine reward for learning to read. But there are many other advantages.

Not only does the literate mother have greater economic opportunities but she can also learn about good health practices. The Indian state of Kerala dramatically illustrates the benefits of literacy. Although this region is below average as far as income is concerned, 87 percent of its womenfolk are literate. Interestingly, in the same state, infant mortality is five times lower than in the rest of India; on the average, women live 15 years longer; and all the girls attend school.

Naturally, the literate mother stimulates the learning process in her children—no mean feat. The education of girls is an excellent investment. Nothing else has such power to improve family health and to improve the lives of women themselves, notes the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) publication The State of the World's Children 1991. No doubt about it, reading and writing skills will help you to be a better mother and provider.*

Health. As a mother, you need to look after yourself, especially if you are pregnant or nursing. Can you improve your diet? Nearly two thirds of pregnant women in Africa as well as in southern and western Asia are clinically anemic. Apart from sapping your energy, anemia increases the risks associated with childbirth and makes a malarial attack more likely. Although meat or fish may be scarce or expensive, eggs and iron-rich fruits or vegetables might be available. Don't allow superstition to stop you from eating nutritious foods, and don't let local customs rob you of your share of the family's food.^#

Breast-feeding is good for you as well as for your child. Breast milk is cheaper, more hygienic, and more nourishing than any substitute. UNICEF calculates that a million child deaths each year could be avoided if mothers were to breast-feed babies for the first four to six months of their lives. Of course, if the mother has a contagious disease that is known to be passed on through breast milk, then a safe feeding alternative should be used.

Make sure that there is proper ventilation if you cook inside your home on an open fire. "Exposure to the smoke and toxic gases of cooking is probably the most serious occupational health hazard known today," cautions the book Women and Health.

Do not smoke tobacco, whatever the pressures. Pervasive cigarette advertising in the developing world is targeting women, trying to convince them that smoking is sophisticated. Nothing could be further from the truth. Smoking harms your children and can kill you. It is calculated that eventually a quarter of all smokers are killed by their tobacco addiction. Moreover, experts warn that the chances of a first-time cigarette smoker becoming addicted to tobacco are extremely high.

Hygiene. Your example and your advice regarding hygiene are crucial to the health of your family. The publication Facts for Life outlines the following basic steps for good hygiene:

• Wash your hands with soap and water after any contact with excrement and before handling food. Make sure your children wash their hands before eating.
• Use a latrine, and keep it clean and covered. If this is not possible, defecate as far away from your house as possible, and bury the excrement immediately.—Compare Deuteronomy 23:12, 13.
• Endeavor to use clean water for your household. To this end, keep wells covered and use clean utensils for carrying water.
• If you have no access to safe drinking water, boil the water and then allow it to cool before drinking. Although unboiled water may look clean, it can still be contaminated.
• Remember that uncooked food is much more likely to transmit an infection. Foods that are to be eaten raw should be washed before eating and then consumed as soon as possible. Other foods should be cooked thoroughly, especially meat and poultry.
• Keep food clean and covered so that insects or animals cannot contaminate it.
• Burn or bury domestic waste.^%

* Jehovah's Witnesses organize free literacy classes as part of their extensive program of Bible education.

^# In some lands, superstition holds that women should not eat fish, eggs, or chicken during pregnancy, for fear of harming the unborn child. Sometimes custom requires the woman to eat what is left over, once the men and boys have finished eating.

^% See Awake! of April 8, 1995, pages 6-11, for more details.

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