The effect of people education center's literacy courses on women's lives

Abstract

This theses aims to explore the effect of People’s Education Centers’ (PEC) literacy courses on women’s lives through an exploration of their perceptions of the changes that happened in their lives as a result of their participation in the course. For this case study method was used and semi-structured interviews were carried out with seven women participants who completed Level 1 Literacy courses offered by Kağıthane/Gültepe PEC. Women’s accounts of the changes that occurred as a result of their participation in the course revealed that after the course all participants were able to travel, read and write to carry on their tasks without having to rely on others. All women in the study felt themselves more self-confident as a result of attending the course. As for changes in the relations in their families women in the study who had been working outside the house for a long time felt that they always had a certain say in the decisions taken in the family. After the course all women in the study started to put themselves as role models for other illiterate women in their family or community. The analysis of the interviews suggested that women in the study challenged economic constraints, patriarchal power structures and dominant gender roles in order to attend and continue the literacy course so that they could have an increasing sense of independence and self-reliance in their lives. They all wanted to keep or increase the sense of independence they had in their lives.