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***For one thing, the religious orders made it possible for women to be educated and to hold influential positions as nuns.***

The Reformation greatly escalated literacy of males and females.

literacy

Britannica Concise

Ability to read and write.

The term may also refer to familiarity with literature and to a basic level of education obtained through the written word. In ancient civilizations such as those of the Sumerians and Babylonians, literacy was the province of an elite group of scholars and priests. Though more prevalent in classical Greece and Rome, it was often limited to members of the upper classes. The spread of literacy in Europe in the Middle Ages was evidenced by the use of writing for functions once conducted orally, such as the indenture of servants and the notation of evidence at trials. The rise of literacy in Europe was closely tied to great social transformations, notably the Protestant Reformation, which brought individual study of the Bible, and the development of modern science. The spread of literacy during the Reformation and the Renaissance was greatly facilitated by the development of printing from movable type and by the adoption of vernacular languages in place of Latin. Compulsory schooling, established in Britain, Europe, and the U.S. in the 19th century, has led to high rates of literacy in the modern industrialized world.

The rise of literacy in Europe was closely tied to great social transformations, notably the Protestant Reformation, which brought individual study of the Bible, and the development of modern science. The spread of literacy during the Reformation and the Renaissance was greatly facilitated by the development of printing from movable type and by the adoption of vernacular languages in place of Latin.

Your quote from the Encyclopedia Brittanica is even more absurd and outrageous than the original article. They can't even get the right chronological order between the Renaissance and the Reformation. Clue: the Renaissance era began at least 100 years before the Reformation. So it's ridiculous to make unsubstantiated statements like "The spread of literacy during the Reformation and the Renaissance."

I hope you're not going to claim that Luther was responsible for inventing movable type, although one could get that impression from this brain-dead Britannica piece. And I don't think you would want either to support the claim that "the adoption of vernacular languages in place of Latin" facilitated literacy. This is such a vacuous statement that one doesn't know where to begin to criticize it (kind of like the article on women and the reformation). the adoption of the vernacular for what? everday conversation? in the liturgy? in universities? Directly contrary to this stupidity, wasn't it true that the main emphasis of education in protestant countries like England continued to focus almost exclusively on the study of Latin and Greek well into the 20th century? And wasn't the demarcation point for our decline into decadent ignorance marked by the abandonment of classical studies?

Compulsory schooling, established in Britain, Europe, and the U.S. in the 19th century, has led to high rates of literacy in the modern industrialized world.

More ignorant propaganda for the leviathan state that I'm surprised you would want to be associated with. The documented fact is that literacy rates in the United States were HIGHER in 1850 than they are today, back before Horace Mann and his program to brainwash all American children.

Luther held that women should be concerned with the kitchen, children, an Church (kuche, kinder, and kurche in German?). Hardly the Great Emancipator of women.