Find out: How Google encourages Indian women to use the Internet
Mumbai: Google has launched its new social campaign called #ReachForTheSky, in association with MARD initiative. The joint campaign launched www.hwgo.com/reach as part of Google's helping women get online initiative, will look to build support from existing Internet users and encourage more women to learn and use the Internet to excel in their lives. The campaign was launched with a musical work 'Chulein Aasmaan', composed by Salim-Sulaiman and performed Live with Farhan Akhtar (singer, writer, performer) and Shraddha Pandit (co- Lyricist)
Joining hands with Google’s ‘Helping Women Get Online’ initiative, MARD (started by Farhan Akhtar) stands to inspire change in society, to gather support for women empowerment. The jointly promoted campaign will look to generate awareness around the need to get women online as well as encourage existing users to help get more women online, and spread awareness of Gender Equality and Women Empowerment.
Speaking about the importance of getting more women online, Rajan Anandan, VP & Managing Director, Google India, said, “Easy and quick access to information can transform lives. India is on its way to become the second largest Internet population in the world but usage of Internet amongst women in India is lower than most countries in the world. Empowering the young women population with information and Internet related tools could transform India’s future. And I am delighted to share, that for the first time in India, women Internet users growth rate in urban India has exceeded men in the last one year. And we need to build on this start, and join the campaign with MARD to encourage more and more women to come online.”
Talking about the association and the launch of the campaign, Farhan Akhtar, said, “MARD is a progressive movement for a more gender equal world. Our objective is to ask men to re-think their own value system and to be the catalyst for change. There is lack of encouragement for women from their families and friends to use Internet or technology to excel in life and we need to come together to address this issue.
“Technology is not just the domain of men. Democratizing access to information can empower women in our country and raise their status in our society. I am excited to join this initiative with our partners, to gather support and encourage men to support and help young girls and women in both urban and rural India to learn and use the internet to improve lives.”
Google has set a mission to bring 50 million women online in India. The search giant claims that in the last 9 months, they have undertaken a number of initiatives reaching over 1 million women across 5 states in India, covering 30 cities and 55 small towns. Google has also reached out to 950 educational institutes spread across these 5 states, imparted basic training to over 45,000 girl students and have trained over 5000 teachers who can continue to educate and inform more girl students.
Its HWGO Internet Cart has also been sent to rural areas. There are continuous training sessions that have been taken up by Google volunteers to spread the awareness about Google.
MARD plans for global outreach and will continue to address gender equality issues across the world and in India, Anurag Rao, CEO- Canvas Talent & Director- Artist Innovations & Repertoire for MARD says “MARD will work with content makers around the world in a pledge to engage hearts and minds through art & music, for a more gender equal world #ReachForTheSky is just the start.”
“Chulein Aasman” Farhan Akhtar added is a song about female emancipation, a song about freeing women from the roles that they have been coerced into playing for centuries. It highlights the importance of equal opportunity, possibilities and the impact it can have on women. I am thankful to Salim & Sulaiman and Shraddha Pandit for their support and for creating a wonderful composition. I hope people will like it and come forward to support #ReachForTheSky campaign.
MARD drives the youth to think of women as equal and to think of girls as equal, with a very simple charter that is in the form of a poem that can be accessed online and shared with schools, colleges, friends and networks. You can become a messenger for MARD and talk about equality, gender equality and respect for all and contribute to the initiative.
How to participate and join the campaign #ReachForTheSky:
Internet users can go to www.hwgo.in/reach and join as a mentor and help a woman who has never used the Internet through simple lessons on how to get started on the Internet, find information that they want, how to use the Internet to connect and communicate online. Mentors can contribute by sharing their stories across leading social media platforms with #ReachForTheSky and encourage more Internet users to participate.
Internet users can also go to www.therealmard.org and pledge their support. Hashtag #ReachForTheSky across social media platforms. Upload your own version of Chulein Aasman with hashtag #ReachForTheSky.
