This days one of my daily routine is to teach my mom to use the internet, to open up the mails, to search online etc. This scenario is now common among the Indian households as only 30% of the active Internet users in India are women. To make a change to this situation Google India has started an initiative named “Helping Women Get Online“, which aims to empower women by enabling them to use the Internet.
According to Google, India is racing towards to become the second largest Internet market in the world with around 200 million Internet users, overtaking US. But India is one of the few countries in the world where the online audience is very skewed towards the male population, with only 30% of the active Internet users as women. Various studies have shown that having access to online would have a very positive impact on women lives, their status as well as the society.
Helping Women Get Online initiative tries to overcome the major three barriers which includes access, knowledge and awareness that keep women from getting online. To support the initiative Google has opened a dedicated website HWGO.com (www.hwgo.com) which offers basic internet training materials in both English and Hindi language that would help women to understand how they can use Internet in their day to day lives. The site category is divided into two parts – How to use the internet and Find useful information online. How to use the internet section offers training materials (video/audio/text) starting from computer basics, basic internet skills teaching which include searching useful information online, using chats and emails, watching video online and finally finding information in their local language.
The ‘Find useful information online’ section includes interesting contents from across the web for quick access. Topics include childcare tips, cooking tips and recipes, financial tips, health tips, household tips, maternity tips, relationship tips, style & beauty tips.
In addition Google is also offering a toll free helpline number 1800 41 999 77 to guide women to use Internet or if they got any doubts. Google will also start a mass media campaign on Internet Moms which also include ground activations across the country to help women discover hwgo.com.
Through the ‘Helping Women Get Online‘ initiative, Google aim of bringing a balance in the online space and to empower women by helping 50 million additional Indian women get online by end of 2014. To support this initiative Google has collaborated with Intel, HUL, Future Group and Axis Bank who will help to drive this initiative through joint outreach efforts including digital literacy. Other partners including Johnson & Johnson, indiatimes, Healthkart, Babyoye etc who are committed to create relevant content which would serve as an important information source for these women.
Source – Helping Women Get Online