Read on. It'll pay off, girl!

Whether it’s fictitious tales of magic flying carpets and genies, or a real historical recounting of a brave war hero, we need to be encouraging our youth to read – especially young women.

On Oct. 17, 2019, StatCan released a study called Does reading proficiency at age 15 affect employment earnings in young adulthood, which concluded that the degree of literacy prowess in women by the age of 15 was more closely linked to their eventual income than men of the same age.

While this particular study brings me delight, I can’t help but think if this harms women’s image or proves their strength as a sex.

Opinion

Gender coding of terms like bookworm has been involved in institutionalized sexism in our western society for decades and for valid reasons.

The earliest documented book club dates back to the 1630’s with Anna Hutchinson, a religious reformer, and the women’s meetings she hosted to discuss their minister’s weekly sermons.

There is one compelling question that comes to mind; when considering the recent StatCan study and the traces of sexism closely associating women with reading throughout history is, do we fight it? Is this stereotype that women are known for their love of books a bad thing?

Modern media has frequently incorporated this history of proven bias for arbitrary plot points, a major example being the media conglomerate, The Walt Disney Company. The company openly indulged in the stereotype with their depiction of Belle from the 1991 film Beauty and the Beast. In the movie, there is an entire musical number that summarizes that Belle is beautiful but weird, mostly because she reads.

Fighting stereotypes that have already been integrated into pop culture will always be difficult especially for women, who arguably fight the oppression of men every day. However, these literacy biases can be their strength.

If we can continue to promote young women’s literacy as a surefire sign of a successful future, then that secures a substantial shift in the bias.