A/HRC/11/8 page 17 48 per cent had reading and numeracy abilities well below those of the general population.50 In the United States, 44 per cent of women in State prisons have neither graduated from high school nor received a general education diploma. 53 50. Little attention is paid to the number of women with learning difficulties in detention, the scarce research on the issue focusing to date principally on men.54 The negative connotations for appropriate education provision are cause for concern. 51. Although education is an important means of helping women gain self-confidence and life skills,55 one critical barrier to improving the relevance of their education provision is the lack of research and information on their particular educational needs. Since their educational necessities are different from those of men, equal treatment and equal opportunities would not necessarily lead to similar results. That does not explain, however, why, in many States, there are fewer programmes for women and why those that are available are less varied and of poorer quality than those offered to male detainees.56 For example, in Latin America, recent research showed quite clearly that, in many States in the region, courses that are offered to women in detention are mostly related to issues traditionally linked to women, such as sewing, kitchen duties, beauty and handicrafts. Nonetheless, there are welcome examples in some States of programmes turning away from such stereotyping and offering, in turn, a greater diversification of courses, with greater relevance and overall perceived value.21 Generally however, it is unsurprising that research involving female detainees has uncovered deep expressions of frustration with the extent and quality of education and training they received.57 52. In 2010, the Special Rapporteur plans to focus his annual report on the right to education for migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers. In the present report, he simply points to the troubling practice of numerous States of detaining - often for prolonged periods - entire migrant 53 Caroline Wolf Harlow, Education and Correctional Populations, Bureau of Justice Statistics, January 2003, rev. 4/15/03. 54 Hayes, S.C., Women with learning disabilities who offend: what do we know? British Journal of Learning Disabilities, 35:3 September 2007. 55 Afghanistan: female prisoners and their social reintegration. United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, March 2007. 56 Fundación Somos Familia (2008) Aula de Derechos Humanos. Cuenca Ecuador. See also Farrell, A., Danby, S., Skoien, P., Quadrelli, C., Women inmates’ accounts of education in Queensland corrections, 2000. 57 See for example Danby, Farrel, Skoien, and Quadrelli, “Inmate women as participants in education in Queensland correctional centers”, paper presented at Women in Corrections: Staff and Clients Conference, 2000; and Rose, C. “Women’s participation in prison education: what we know and what we don’t know”, Journal of Correctional Education, 55 (1) March.