What could free internet do towards the upliftment of our rural women?

We wrap up this year's SHEROES tri-city Summit based on the 2015 theme - "Women make Digital India" at Bangalore today. On the eve of it’s finale, let's discuss the relevance of free internet and what it could do towards upliftment of our rural women.

Internet connectivity to rural India has always been an issue considering the vast geographical diversity of our country as well as constrained resources. However, according to an IAMAI report released in November of 2013, the number of internet users in India had reached 205 million in October 2013 of which 68 million were rural internet users. The report also mentions that rural India saw a 58% YOY growth in internet usage.  70% of the active rural internet users access internet using mobile phones, while 32% use internet only through mobile. The "Community Service Centers" and "Cyber Cafes" are the main point of access for 40% of them. Right now, these numbers have shot up even more significantly.

In September 2015, in an effort to bring technology closer to the self-employed women at the bottom of the pyramid, Facebook India and the Telangana government launched a training programme aiming to equip rural self-help groups with necessary knowledge to promote their products online. India’s rural artisans comprise of a strong woman workforce. Products they are trained to make range from simple clothing to textiles, crafts and much more. Rolling out such initiatives nationwide, will help women “entrepreneurs” in rural India reach new customers and ultimately grow.

Then there is the Women for Empowerment and Entrepreneurship initiative, in short W2E2, which is helping rural women with digital tools and e-learning. Here, women tend to use the Internet for their own projects in fields like sustainable agriculture and rural health. Some are setting up their own kiosks and shops to provide online services to the local community, while others have taken up work as digital literacy trainers in their own local communities. 

Similarly, the National e-Governance Plan gives a chance to rural entrepreneurs (women and men) to provide citizen-centric services including access to land records and utility bill payments. This plan helps them to follow up on rural enterprise, facilitate community participation, enable citizens to make informed decisions and act as a single-window interface, eliminating middlemen and corruption, in the process. 

Digital India hopes to provide phone connectivity and access to broadband in 2.5 lakh villages by 2019. Imagine what this could do to the talented but unexposed woman workforce out there. If their products and knowledge can be brought to the forefront via this medium, their lives and trade could flourish thousand fold. The only thing stopping our rural counterparts from competing with us on a digital footing, is lack of access to digital initiatives!

Equal opportunities and a more level playing field bridging the immense urban-rural divide may seem a dream for now, in the face of realities such as abject poverty propelling farmer suicides and the fact that almost 70% of our villages, still remain without basic electricity. Yet every small step, towards more digital growth can develop rural India as a whole and along with, the women workforce. 

By Sukanya Mukherjee with inputs by Paroma Sen

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