GD Goenka University organized Gender Equity Promotion Programme for Women on “Digital Literacy and Online Safety”

GD Goenka University organized Gender Equity Promotion Programme for Women on “Digital Literacy and Online Safety” on 3rd October 2018. This was conducted by Ms. Janice Verghese, the trainer at Cyber Peace Foundation. It was a three-hour long interactive activity with girls and women, focusing on the following among various other aspects of cyberspace and related issues:

• Understanding Digital Literacy
• Know – How About Technology
• Safety and Privacy Tools
• Responsible Online Behaviour
• Protection Measures

Cyber Peace Foundation has partnered with the National Commission for Women (NCW) and Facebook to empower Indian women and make them digitally literate through the Digital Shakti Programme. Cyber Peace Foundation is an organization which is a think tank of cyber security and policy experts with the vision of pioneering Cyber Peace Initiatives to build collective resiliency against cybercrimes & global threats of cyber warfare. It has been found that cybercrimes and threats to women online are rising by the day so much that they are the prime targets of some sensitive crimes like revenge pornography and sextortion. Reasons causing this are not only economical but also social and cultural, that prevent women from using the internet and issues like trolling that pop up when one uses it too often. With the development of a more advanced and digital age, it is of paramount importance to break this gender divide and create awareness among internet users, to help curb the threats and problems associated with the internet and its usage, and also pave a path to reap the benefits of these great technological advancements.

Ms. Janice confidently talked about many important and unavoidable issues which we all experience on daily basis. She highlighted the role of Digital Literacy, Cyber-Crimes and its consequences, Online Harassment and its repercussions, Skimming, Correct use of Social Networking Sites, Smart Phones, Net Banking, ATM cards and more specifically IT Acts which every person should know if they are dealing with technology.

We were part of this developing country where most of us are dependable on the internet, should know what the technology is offering to our society. In this digital era, one should not be afraid of using technology instead one should come one step forward and learn how to use it intelligently for the betterment of everyone.

Ms. Janice made this workshop very interactive by sharing real-life incidents and all the participants got to know a lot about the right use of technology through this workshop. In the end, she was presented with a token of appreciation by Prof. (Dr.) Tanuja Kaushik, Dean Student Welfare.