My favorite part of GHC19 was a session titled “Innovations in Tech for Women in Developing Countries/Emerging Markets.” Presented by women originally from third-world countries themselves, this presentation explored technology initiatives that have been particularly impactful for women in developing countries.
The presenters spoke about start-ups funded by Google aimed at educating women in villages across India, Uganda, Kenya, Brazil, and so on, about internet literacy. The objective was to get women to see the internet as their ‘friend’ — an initiative dubbed Internet Saathi or Internet Friend in Hindi —, and as a tool they can use to make work easier.
Perhaps most exciting, a survey polled among the targets of these efforts showed that the women had gone on to educate their fellow villagers on the internet, use it to help their children with school work, and start their own businesses. Not only was the internet being made accessible across the globe, but also being used to break cross-cultural standards confining women solely to indoor, house-wife duties.
Go international women-in-tech!