In my early twenties, I left Malaysia to study in the United Kingdom. It was my first time living so far from home. I still remember my first few seminars. Students spoke with ease, referring to books and ideas that were unfamiliar to me. I listened more than I spoke. Afterwards, I went back and read. Slowly, things began to make sense. Reading helped me find my footing.
Later, my work took me to different communities in Malaysia, India, and Nepal. Once again, I found myself in unfamiliar spaces, listening to people speak about their lives and their experiences with education. The ability to read, question, and make connections helped me understand what I was seeing, and take part in those conversations.
Looking back, I realise how much of that journey was made possible by literacy.
But not every girl is given that same foundation.
I remember one girl in Projek BacaBaca, a reading programme based at the School of Education, who rarely spoke during the early sessions. She avoided reading aloud and kept her answers short, worried about getting them wrong. Over time, as her reading improved, something changed. She began to sit up straighter. She started volunteering answers. She smiled more. With each paragraph she learned to read, her confidence grew.
Her world had not physically changed. But her place within it had.
She is not alone. In Malaysia, almost every child goes to school, yet many still struggle to read with confidence and understanding. They move from year to year, present in the classroom but unable to fully participate in learning. For girls, this can shape how they see themselves, what they believe they are capable of, and whether they feel that education truly belongs to them.
This is how inequality begins. Not always through the absence of schooling, but through the absence of literacy.
That foundation matters even more today. When I first began using artificial intelligence tools in my work, I was struck by how easily one could accept what was presented without question. Literacy allows us to pause, to evaluate, and to decide for ourselves what is meaningful. It allows us to remain active participants in a world increasingly shaped by information and technology.
When we speak about women’s rights, we often focus on leadership, representation, and equal pay. These are important goals. But they are built on opportunities that begin much earlier.
They begin with whether a girl is given the chance to become a reader.
Reading does more than help a child perform well in school. It gives her independence. It allows her to make sense of the world, to form her own views, and to imagine a future beyond what she sees around her.
It gave me the ability to move across countries, across cultures, and now across digital spaces that did not exist when I was young.
This International Women’s Day, as we speak about rights, justice, and action, we must remember where those rights begin.
Literacy made it possible for me to cross borders I once could not see.
It continues to shape how I move through the world today.
Every girl deserves that same freedom.
Not only to go somewhere.
But to know she can.
About the Author: Hema Letchamanan is a senior lecturer and programme director of Postgraduate Taught Programmes at the School of Education, Taylor’s University, Malaysia. She is passionate about literacy and access to quality education for marginalised communities, and has extensive experience in higher education, strategic programme development, and large-scale project management.