Internet Saathi, an Attempt at Bridging the Digital Gender Divide

25-year-old Kamlesh Kumari, a resident of Sirmathura village in Dholpur district of Rajasthan, is deeply engrossed with a tab, searching for child healthcare tips while her four-month-old daughter sleeps on her lap.

Educated till class 8, Kamlesh craves knowledge. With mobile internet now available in the village, she has now found a new ray of hope. A confident Kamlesh not only surfs the internet, but also teaches other women in the village how to access the web.

Google India’s digital educative initiative, Internet Saathi, under Helping Women Get Online campaign has been transforming lives of many women like Kamlesh in the villages of Dholpur. The internet, which seemed a distant dream to village women, is now just a touch away.

Internet usage among women in India is low. Only one-third of India’s online users are women. This gender disparity in the internet user base was a big concern that we wanted to address. We launched an initiative called Helping Women Get Online, aimed at encouraging women to use the Internet in their daily life

Sapna Chadha, Marketing Head, Google India

India’s internet users are growing at 56 percent, the growth rate of women Internet users is only 27 percent in rural India. Through Internet Saathi, Google aims to bridge the gender divide in technology which currently puts women in rural India at further risk of getting marginalised in society.

Internet Saathi, which was started in 2015, has now reached around 4,000 villages with 1,900 trained ‘saathis’. Google is adding up to 500 additional ‘saathis’ per week. More than 100,000 women have been trained so far. Under this initiative, Google conducts various outreach and educational programmes bringing changes in the lives of many other women, like Gayatri Devi who has been a ‘saathi’ since November 2015.

The programme includes an awareness module, coupled with hands-on training modules aimed at teaching women how to use the Internet, including through mobile devices.

Since the launch of this initiative, Google has directly trained over 1.5 million women on the basics of the internet. Internet Saathi sends women out on bicycles, armed with a smartphone and a tablet, to let women in villages experience the net.

We’re already seeing this change come about through the Internet Saathi programme. The internet saathis have become change agents in each village. They take a lot of pride in helping other women to learn the Internet. Their social status has improved drastically and they are well respected even by the men of their families and the village heads.

Sapna Chadha, Marketing Head, Google India 

One of the key reasons for low adoption of Internet among women in rural India was low awareness. Moreover, there were hurdles like affordability, social norms and low literacy rates.

Speaking on the issue, Sapna Chaddha added that the smartphones platforms friendly appeal and ease of use have made it easier for women to get over their inhibition and incorporate Internet usage in their daily lives.

In the last 10 months, Google India has been active in villages across five states in India, namely, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, and is expanding the programme to four new states – Assam, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

With local women trainers, the Internet Saathi has been successful as it ensures continuity in the process of learning and imparting hands-on training to women and children in villages, making it a highly scalable and sustainable programme.

(This article has been published in arrangement with IANS.)