The Literacy Divide.

• Position: GRAPH - Brief article

In the article "Afghanistan's Romeo & Juliet," 18-year-old Zakia has trouble using a cellphone because she has never learned to read. That's hardly unusual in Afghanistan. Largely because of its history of excluding girls from education, the country has a literacy rate for women that's far below the literacy rate for men. In fact, its female literacy rate is one of the lowest in the world. The bar graph at right shows how Afghanistan's literacy rates stack up to rates in some other countries. For the purposes of the graph, literacy rate is defined as the percentage of men or women age 15 and older who can read and write.

This bar graph shows male and female literacy rates for selected countries along with the global rates.

ANALYZE THE GRAPH

1. According to the graph, about--percent of women worldwide can read and write.

   a 77

   b 83

   c 90

   d 26

2. In Afghanistan, the female literacy rate is --percentage points lower than the male literacy rate.

   a 39

   b 34

   c 27

   d 21

3. In which of these countries is the female literacy rate higher than the male literacy rate?

   a Brazil

   b Germany

   c Kenya

   d China

   4 In which of these countries is the male literacy rate more than 60 points lower than the global average?

   a Afghanistan

   b Niger

   c Brazil

   d India

5. Which is true of the U.S. female literacy rate?

   a It is the same as Germany's,

   b It is about 5 points higher than China's,

   c It's the same as the U.S. male literacy rate,

   d all of the above

   DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

6. It has been said that female...