Gender Inequality in Literacy: A Study of Slum Population in Selected Class-I Towns in Kolkata Urban Agglomeration in West Bengal, India

An attempt has been made in this paper to analyse the spatial variations of gender inequality in literacy of slum population in selected 12 class-I towns in Kolkata Urban Agglomeration in West Bengal, India. Sophers’ Disparity Index (1974), as modified by Kundu and Rao (1986) has been used to analyse the gender inequality in literacy of slum population. The highest gender disparity index in literacy of slum population has been observed as 0.196 in Champdani and the lowest as 0.073 in South Dum Dum. The study has revealed that the gender disparity index in literacy of slum population is positively correlated with the gender disparity index in literacy of non-slum population and with the percentage share of slum population to the total population of these towns. The study has also observed that the gender disparity index in literacy of slum population is negatively correlated with the literacy rate, female literacy rate, work participation rate and female work participation rate of slum population of these selected towns.