Digital Literacy as a Gateway to Safety: Examining ICT-Based Women's Helplines as Digital Education Platforms in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, India
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Abstract
The issue of violence toward women is still an important concern as it relates to both the public health sector and government. Many barriers limit women's access to traditional justice or redress systems, many of which are related to technology. These include physical isolation, social stigma, lack of trust in institutions, and digital disconnection. The focus of this paper will be to analyses two state-level technology-based helplines for women: Women Helpline 181 (WHL 181) in the State of Rajasthan and Women Power Line 1090 (WPL 1090) in the State of Uttar Pradesh. While both helplines provide an emergency response mechanism for women who have been subjected to domestic violence, the authors argue that they also act as educational mechanisms for teaching women about digital technologies and how they can use them as tools for civic engagement. An examination of secondary data from sources including National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports of crime in India from 2018 through 2022, National Family Health Survey -5 (NFHS-5) 2019-21 report, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRAI) performance indicator reports, and Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) publication reports utilised a descriptive comparative methodology. The analysis included statistical methodologies used to determine the relationship between variables, including Pearson correlation, linear regression, Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR), Mann-Whitney U-test, Chi-Square test, and Spearman Rank Correlation. The results show that the WPL 1090 has a higher success rate in resolving complaints than WHL 181 (98.86% vs 92.27%; p=.0079). However, WHL 181 has experienced a much faster growth rate (CAGR) than WPL 1090 (8.94% vs 4.19%). Additionally, there was a perfect positive correlation between the level of digital literacy and use of the helpline (ρ=1.000, p<.001), indicating that digital literacy is one of the best predictors of use of internet-based services to increase safety. As stated above, both states had rates of digital awareness that were well below those reported nationally. Based on the Technology Acceptance Model and the theory of digital inclusion, the research provides new empirical evidence supporting the idea that women's helplines should be conceptualized as digital education platforms. The findings present strong arguments for programs like Digital India and Mission Shakti to include specific components of structured digital literacy education within their respective programs to support equal opportunity access by women at greatest risk.
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