India's literacy rate for women is 39%.

10 years ago Kerala state became 'fully literate' achieving a 90% rate for women.

Kerala achieved similar gains in maternal health where maternal deaths are less than 70 per 100,000 births against the national average of 453 per 100,000.

Gains in health have been attributed to the high literacy rate but have not translated into jobs.

Women make up 54.5% of job seekers yet only 16% are in paid jobs.

Kerala has 3x's the national unemployment rate and unemployment in rural villages is 7x's the national average.

States such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu have 40% employment rates for women but are behind in 'all other indicators'.

The reasons for this are not clear. Some say that primary education has been emphasized over higher education in Kerala whereas in other parts of India higher education has been expanded more quickly than primary education. Others feel that literate women have expectations of office jobs for which their mostly primary educations do not equip them. Whatever the reasons, India's constitution reserves a third of seats in elected local government bodies for women and they are running for these seats in record numbers. Some feel this will be the addition that allows women to reap employment benefits from improved education and health.