The note discusses some key issues pertaining to gender, literacy and women's empowerment in India. It uses disaggregated data to illustrate the persisting gender disparities with regard to literacy and points out that despite this there is a lack of real political will to address issues of adult literacy. It further draws on data from the micro-credit sector--micro-credit being an important strategy for women's empowerment and poverty alleviation--to show how literacy continues to be a determinant in women's access to leadership opportunities, resources and learning inputs. The article points out that the discourse on gender and literacy is predominantly around issues of access and not as it should be about changing gender relations or looking at gender within areas such as programme design, training, materials etc. The article also underscores the fact that sustaining literacy by creating a robust literacy environment is of critical importance. Drawing on the above the article makes some recommendations. It is based on the ongoing work of Nirantar, a resource centre for gender and education, in India. (Contains 1 note.) [Abstract presented in English, Spanish, and French.]