Spatial Pattern of Male-Female Literacy Differential in Asansol City (Paschim Bardhaman, West Bengal): A Ward Level Geographical Study

Abstract

Literacy is an important tool in enhancing the quality of life. Present paper is an

attempt to analyse the ward level spatial pattern of male-female literacy differential based on

secondary data. The city is divided into fifty wards which occupies an area of 127.87 square

kilometres. The average literacy rate of Asansol city is 78.85 per cent. Literacy differential

index by Prof. R. P. Mishra has been used to study the literacy differential. The literacy

differential of Asansol city is 0.124 which varies between highest in ward no. 37 (0.368) to

lowest in ward no. 01 (0.066) indicating a substantial disparity in the gap between male and

female literacy in different wards. Asansol is a coal and iron based industrial hub and industrial

workers constituted the substantial portion of the population who gives less preference to

education, especially to female education which is the main reason for these differences.