A Study of Factors affecting Female Literacy using Factor Analysis

Literacy can affect people’s lives of both women and men through several channels. The objectives of the study were to study the literacy levels of female literacy rate in different States of India as well as the districts of Maharashtra. The study also tried to find the factors affecting female literacy rates in the districts of Maharashtra. The study was based mainly on secondary data from the Census. Advance Statistical techniques like Factor Analysis Principal Component Analysis and Stepwise Multiple Regression Analyses were used in the study. Fifteen factors were used in the study as variables affecting the female literacy rate in the combine data of Maharashtra. Two indexes were developed in the study namely economic wealth index and medical index using statistical techniques like Principal Component Analysis. In rural areas as well as urban areas four principal components were extracted. Based on maximum loadings the variables were divided into four groups of factors. The study gave many suggestions to improve female literacy in the districts of Maharashtra on the bases of the findings of the study.