Of the McColes whose literacy was recorded, 65.9% could both read and write, 3.4% could read but not write, and 30.7% could do neither. Women came out slightly ahead, 66.9% reading and writing against 64.9% of men. Bear in mind these figures include young children; the census itself only counted people aged nine and over when calculating illiteracy, on the grounds that it was unfair to label a child illiterate before they'd had a chance to learn.