Months after the release of the Women and the Web report earlier this year, Intel now launched She Will Connect program that commits to expand digital literacy skill among young women in developing countries.
The program will launch in Africa, where Intel says the gender gap is the greatest. With this program, Intel aims to reach 5 million women in Africa and reduce the gender gap by 50 percent.
Intel will launch the program in partnership with several global and local NGOs and governments.
The Women and the Web report revealed concrete data on the enormous Internet gender gap in the developing world and the social and economic benefits of securing Internet access for women.
The report issued a call to action for stakeholders to double the number of women and girls online in developing countries in three years.
She Will Connect demonstrates Intel’s commitment to this action by not only providing digital literacy skills to girls and women, but also by pushing the concept of digital literacy forward through new, innovative and scalable models.
“The Internet has transformed the lives of billions of people,” said Shelly Esque, vice president of Intel’s Corporate Affairs Group and president of the Intel Foundation.
Closing the Internet gender gap has tremendous potential to empower women and enrich their lives as well as all the lives they touch.
In conjunction with She Will Connect, Intel pledged a 2013 Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action and is celebrating the United Nations’ second International Day of the Girl on October 11. The theme for this year’s International Day of the Girl emphasizes the importance of girls’ education worldwide.
“When we think about what the world is going to look like in the coming 20 years, we have to do more to make sure that women as well as men, girls as well as boys are empowered to use new technology to further their own aspirations,” said Secretary Hillary Clinton at the Clinton Global Initiative 2013 annual meeting last week.
She Will Connect program will launch an Online Gaming Platform for women. The company will work together with World Pulse to integrate World Pulse’s digital empowerment training into existing digital literacy programs and connect women to a safe and supportive peer network.
Beyond Africa, Intel is expanding on its ongoing commitment to empower girls and women globally, with continued work in India with a goal to reach 1 million women with Intel’s Easy Steps digital literacy training program in the next year. In Latin America, Intel is partnering with several governments and organizations providing digital literacy training with a special focus on fostering entrepreneurial skills in Columbia, Mexico and Peru.
In addition to launching She Will Connect, Intel is celebrating International Day of the Girl by building on its strong culture of employee volunteerism for Global Giveback Day.
