ALA Executive Director Tracie D. Hall writes: “In this third and final installment of my columns on the pervasiveness of adult low literacy, I feel an urgent need to call out how race, gender, and class coincide—and collide—when it comes to reading ability. This topic is especially critical at a moment marked by de facto and de jure attacks on women’s bodies and economic autonomy. The nonprofit ProLiteracy, one of ALA’s longtime partners, makes the connection between reading and health care agency. It points out that women with low literacy skills are at higher risk of ‘financial, health, and partner vulnerabilities throughout their lives,’ potentially limiting their independence. That cyclical relationship—limited education and reading ability leading to limited economic opportunity leading to limited health care options and outcomes—is something women in the US and globally experience acutely, and it has only worsened since the pandemic.”

American Libraries column, July/August; ProLiteracy Blog, Nov. 10, 2020