After the revolution, the FMC fought to establish equal educational rights for women. The organization met with other Latin American countries to share ideas for positive increases in women's education. The FMC started by establishing schools specifically for women who were domestic servants and prostitutes and schools for women living in poverty. These schools were designed to help women develop a broader range of skills, ultimately helping them to gain the ability to obtain higher education. These schools also set out to help with the country's history of rates of illiteracy. About a quarter of the population of Cuba was illiterate when Fidel Castro took power and over half were women. By 1961, nearly the entire country was literate, primarily in thanks to volunteers (of which around 56% were young women) going to rural areas to teach literacy.