International Journal of Management (IJM), ISSN 0976 – 6502(Print), ISSN 0976 – 6510(Online), Volume 3, Issue 2, May-August (2012) 65 FEMALE LITERACY & ITS RELEVANCE WITH MATERNAL AND INFANT MORTALITY RATES Garima Jain Ph.D. Scholar IET-Lucknow Email : gjain18@yahoo.co.in Dr. Vikram Bisen Associate Professor IET-Lucknow ABSTRACT When a female is educated the next generation is bound to be educated hence education has many folds impact on the social and economical development of any nation. Education as such, results in positive externalities. Not only does it have an intrinsic value in the sense of the joy of learning, reading etc, but it also has instrumental, social and process roles. Moreover education may spread through interpersonal motivation. When one family sends their child to school, their neighbor is likely to do so as well. Women’s education too, often spreads this way, more specifically, through same sex effects. i.e. an educated woman is far more likely to send her daughter to school than an uneducated woman. Also, she is likely to maintain better conditions of nutrition and hygiene in her household and thereby improve her family’s health (Sen 1997). Literacy is directly related to the status of a woman, her age at marriage, her decision power and to mention especially capability to access health care services. Literacy not only increases women’s self-confidence but also makes them more exposed to information and thereby altering the way others respond to them. Female literacy improves the chances that women will obtain meaningful employment, reduces their demand for children and improves health- seeking behavior, makes them aware of Nutritional requirements - all these combined improve the chances of survival of both - the mother and the baby. The present paper focuses on the relationship between the female literacy and mortality rates (IMR and MMR) and establishes an inverse relationship between them. INTRODUCTION Not only might women residing in countries with higher female literacy enjoy greater personal safety and physical integrity, they may also have greater inheritance rights, ownership rights in land and loans, and labour market rights (Jütting et al., 2008; Magadi, Madise, & Rodrigues, 2000). Countries with higher female literacy may also devote more resources to the provisioning of maternal health care services along a range of maternal health care delivery models, including physicians, nurses, and traditional birth attendants. In terms of the “inverse equity hypothesis,” the greater range of services available to women in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT (IJM) ISSN 0976 – 6367(Print) ISSN 0976 – 6375(Online) Volume 3, Issue 2, May- August (2012), pp. 65-79 © IAEME: www.iaeme.com/ijm.html Journal Impact Factor (2011): 1.5030 (Calculated by GISI) www.jifactor.com IJM © I A E M E