In the year 2000 an estimated 875 million adults are illiterate of which nearly two-thirds are women.

In 1969, the year man took his first step on the moon, 4 out of 5 women in Africa could not read or write. It is estimated that today nearly half of all African women still are illiterate.

According to the latest projections, between 1990 and 2005 the fastest increases in literacy rates amongst adult women will be in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States. In both regions over that period, the percentage of adult women who are literate will have risen by 19 percentage points from 41% in 1990 to 60% in 2005 in Sub-Saharan Africa and from 37% to 56% in the Arab States.

Since 1985 in general there have been more female students than male in higher education in the most developed countries. By contrast, in the world's least developed countries, only 1 in 4 students at this level are women.

Throughout the world, in the scientific domains female students are well represented in nursing and biology, though they are still underrepresented in maths, physics, chemistry and especially engineering. On a global scale, there are higher percentages of women studying education or the humanities at university than any other subject.

In the world women represent 94% of pre-primary school teachers, 58% of primary school teachers and 48% of secondary school teachers.

The last paragraph is intriguing.
I wonder why there is such a complete reversal in the number of women teachers in pre-primary and secondary schools. Could it be that the older men get the more intimidating they become? Or do women just get tired of teaching, going on to raise families of their own?

Not being a teacher myself, I would think that young women just out of college might not be inclined to be teaching men almost her age. And by the time women have more experience teaching and have reached that level, most have left to raise their own children, leaving the older men to teach the higher grades, with a higher salary to support their family. Is this convoluted thinking?

It's often harder to get the advanced degree for a woman with children to be able to teach post secondary courses. Not because she isn't as capable but if her husband comes from the "spouse" pool as many many times people tend to marry those with whom they work or study, the husband is going to be getting his finished too. So even with the best intentions, if they have a child during this process, it does disrupt things.
So that statistically more women put their Ph.D's on the back burner and the husband's career in front while they slow down with the kids. And then, the likelihood of both spouses getting a job in the same place comes up. Professional journals constantly report on these phenomenons.
With post secondary jobs rare, you almost have to have a Ph.d to even be a contender. Therefore, fewer women teaching.
I've taught at so many levels from preschoolers to college courses and adult courses, that I've seen this happen time and time again.

Teaching is one of the careers where you can have a family and take care of them, spend time with them during the holidays and summers.
There is more prestige attached to university teaching, therefore more men there at the higher levels than elementary school teaching. A man in the US who says he's a schoolteacher is rarer. Then the proportion goes up throughout the grade levels.

I've had students twice my age, even like my grandparents age, don't think that bothered me, just when I "consult" or do one on one tutoring in English with businessmen. Not as much fun.