Yara Aquino
Repórter da Agência Brasil

Brasília - The 2005 UN Population Fund report shows that worldwide there are 600 million women who are illiterate, compared to 320 million men in the same situation. The report goes on to say that there is a relationship between women's education, gender equality and poverty around the world because where there is education and equality, poverty levels drop.

But women continue to have their problems. In Brazil, and the world, there are more girls in elementary school than boys. In many parts of the world the predominance of women continues into high school. And although more and more women are going into higher education, it is at the university level that a change begins to occur. And in the job market the change becomes drastic. "Although women have the education, the training and, often, a university degree, they simply cannot get the same pay as men," explains Tania Patriota, the Population Fund representative in Brazil.

Translator: Allen Bennett