Alphabet Inc unit Google has partnered with India’s Tata Trusts in launching “Internet Saathi” (Internet partner) to empower women and their communities in rural India by enabling them to use the Internet and benefit from it in their daily lives. The joint initiative is aimed at bridging the technology gender divide, explains Tata Trusts.
Equipped with bicycles with large boxes on the back containing internet-enabled devices running Google’s Android mobile operating system, the guides ride their bicycles from one village to another showing women how to search for information, using Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp messaging service, and even just using a smartphone to make a call, says the Wall Street Journal.
A year into the launch, the program’s 9,000 female tutors have imparted a better understanding to more than 1 million women of how being connected could improve their lives.
