On International Women’s Day, 1M1B hosts online dialogues and panels for influential female teachers and personalities from all over India. During the Digital Nagrik social media campaign, more than 60% of the pledges were taken by women.
New Delhi, March 6, 2023: 1M1B (One Million for One Billion) and Meta Platform Inc have launched the Digital Nagrik Campaign to create awareness about women’s safety online, in line with the theme of this year’s International Women’s Day, “DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality”. The campaign aims to advance equality in the digital sphere and empower women online through various online dialogues and panels hosted on March 7 and 8 with women influencers and teachers.
The Digital Nagrik Campaign, launched on Safer Internet Day, has received massive support from women and girls across India. More than 60% of the 15,000 pledges taken digitally so far are from women and girls. The campaign is a social media campaign and pledge that seeks to foster a culture of digital safety and create a safer and more inclusive internet space. This aligns with the Indian government’s objective to provide its citizens with an open, safe, trusted, and accountable internet.
On International Women’s Day, Digital Nagrik will host a Twitter panel that will discuss fostering a culture of digital safety, promoting a secure and inclusive online environment, and highlighting the digital gap between genders, the importance of digital education, and the urgency to combat online harassment of women and girls.
The Digital Nagrik Campaign is led by CBSE teachers and academic advisors and managed by 1M1B, India’s largest organization developing and mobilizing India’s future-ready technology workforce. The campaign aims to develop a community of responsible digital citizens who are aware of their digital rights and obligations. 1M1B has already engaged over 4 lakh teachers and 11 lakh students on digital citizenship, well-being, and cyber safety and plans to engage over 1 million people through the Digital Nagrik pledge this year.
Digital Nagrik – Time to create a safer cyberspace for Women and girls
According to data released by the National Crime Records Bureau, cybercrime incidents in India increased by 18.4% since 2019, with cases involving women increasing at a much steeper 28.4% rate. Out of 52,974 incidents reported in 2021, 10,730 incidents or 20.2% were reported as crimes against women. Cyberbullying, cyberstalking, defamation, morphing, and the creation of false profiles are the most common cyber-crimes committed against women, with New Delhi, Bengaluru, and Mumbai being the top 3 cities to receive complaints around these crimes. School and college students formed 60% of these complaints.
The Digital Nagrik Campaign will raise awareness about the prevalence of online harassment against women and provide tips and resources to empower women and girls to combat it, thereby creating a safer cyberspace for them.
Manav Subodh- Founder of 1M1B said that “In a world that depends more and more on technology, criminal activity related to electronic and internet platforms tends to rise, with women becoming the easiest victims. To punish such criminals with severe measures, the law must go above and beyond. There are advantages and disadvantages to technology, which can be used for good or bad. Increased cybercrime awareness and knowledge, privacy protection, and legal support are necessary to combat cybercrime against women. At an astounding 85%, women and girls are more likely than men to experience online abuse. The Digital Nagrik campaign aims to increase awareness of the prevalence of harassment of women online and equip women and girls with the tools they need to stop it. The Digital Nagrik campaign is part of the Digital Citizenship curriculum created by teachers and introduced by 1M1B in CBSE schools supported by Meta. It’s important to teach about online safety at an early age, right in the high schools so that today’s youth are made aware. We can see that 60% of pledges are signed by females, which shows the need for awareness and education dialogues on this issue.”
Since February 7, 2023, the Digital Nagrik pledge has been open for signing on www.iamdigitalnagrik.com.
