Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, on Monday, announced a range of programs and a grant of USD 25 million to nonprofits and social enterprises working on empowering girls and women.
"We are today launching a global http://Google.org Impact Challenge for women and girls. We will provide USD 25 million in grants to non-profits and social enterprises doing important work to help women address systemic barriers, economic equality and more," said Sundar Pichai.
Google.org's new Impact Challenge, a philanthropic initiative was unveiled on International Women's Day by Pichai.
Google.org -- the philanthropic arm of the technology giant, is aimed at addressing systemic barriers and inequities so that women have access to economic equality, the opportunity to build financial independence, and pursue entrepreneurism, said Google chief executive Sundar Pichai at a virtual event.
"We are announcing a new commitment to allow 1 million women in the rural villages to become entrepreneurs, through business tutorials, tools, and mentorship," he added.
"Whatever these teams need, we are going to be alongside them and help carry out their vision," said Jacquelline Fuller, President of Google.org, at the event. The company said it will accept applications from teams worldwide until April 9.
Fuller also announced that Google.org is going to invest an additional USD 1 million to help underserved women in India. Even as India is the world's second-largest internet market, women make up a small percentage of online users in the country.
Five years ago, Google launched a program called 'Internet Saathi' to bring internet literacy to women in rural parts of India. The company said the program, for which it collaborated with Indian conglomerate Tata, significantly helped improve women's participation on the Indian internet.
Four of 10 internet users in rural India are now women, said Google, up from one in 10 in 2015. The company, citing its own research, said the Internet Saathi program benefited more than 30 million women in India -- and that it's now concluding the program to focus on other efforts to continue this mission.
"This program created a cascading effect," said Sanjay Gupta, the head of Google India, at the event.