IT savvy women are wanted for a Rural Women Online mentorship program.
Rural Women Online, an initiative of the Victorian Women’s Trust, is recruiting volunteer mentors to help regional Victorian women improve their digital skills.
“So much of modern Australian life happens online; banking, education, health, government services and more. IT skills enhance a woman’s economic participation and social connection,” Victorian Women’s Trust executive director, Mary Crooks, said.
“Despite the resourcefulness and strength of regional women, almost a third report experiencing exclusion from the digital world. This exclusion is exacerbated by fear and shame of a perceived lack of technical skills.
“Rural Women Online will help regional women overcome ability-based digital inclusion barriers by providing positive and empowering opportunities to build digital skills. But we can’t do it alone.
“We are recruiting women as mentors to work one-on-one with a fellow Victorian woman to share skills and digital knowledge.”
Victorian Women’s Trust chair Alana Johnson AM said Rural Women Online was established to help women who were struggling with digital platforms during the COVID lockdowns.
“I knew women whose isolation was exacerbated by not having the knowledge to use the digital platforms that we needed to use,” Ms Johnson told The Gippsland Times.
“Whether it was setting up a MyGov account, online banking, telehealth, even booking a Covid test. It required digital knowledge that a lot of women didn’t have.”
Many Gippslanders never used Zoom before 2020, and while many adapted quickly to this sudden shift, others were left in the dark.
“I was organising an online get-together, and a woman who lived on a farm alone hadn’t seen anyone in weeks, because she didn’t know what Zoom was,” Ms Johnson said.
“My self and others assisted her to download it on her computer, so she was able to join in, and it opened a whole new world for her. She started to attend seminars and catch up with friends and family.
“It totally changed her experience in the Covid lockdown when she was feeling so isolated.”
Ms Johnson said that perceived shortcomings in digital skills exacerbated remoteness for communities affected by the Black Summer bushfires.
“In the recovery phase, isolation was a big factor. (The fires) happened in very isolated areas. To rebuild communities by connecting to one another was paramount as people couldn’t get together in a physical sense,” she said.
“Some had to leave the area because of housing issues, so digital connectivity allowed them to stay connected.
“Many had to correspond with the government and insurance companies on digital platforms. There’s a high level of digital skills required to do all that.”
Ms Johnson said the Australian Digital Inclusion Index indicated the most digitally isolated individuals are older people, the socially disadvantaged and those who live in rural and remote areas.
“There are three ‘pinch points’ in the digital gaps; the first is access. The NBN is patchy in rural Victoria. The second is affordability as the cost of living keeps going up. And the third is ability, which means having the digital skills to actually use the (online) platforms.”
“We decided we would help women with the ability factor.”
Ms Johnson said that organisations like the Country Women’s Association meant there was already a culture of rural women assisting one another.
“We designed the help pages on the website, but the biggest part of the project is women mentoring other women who need digital assistance. We get women who have some IT knowledge to volunteer to help another woman for up to 30 hours.
“The mentor is important because a lot of people over 50 may have their children or their grandchildren help them with digital skills. But it doesn’t always prove successful because young people expect you to retain it. But (older people) need to be told a number of times, maybe up to five times for them to remember.
“Not everyone has someone that can show that to them. The mentors are going to be patient, available and talk your language.”
Rural Women Online has been running open days around the state in libraries, including in Wonthaggi and Bairnsdale.
“We want to feel there is a welcoming place for women, and the library is a good place for that, regardless of their background or digital skills. There are women who don’t have a computer or a smartphone, who are welcomed to use the equipment at the library. We’ve met women who had no email address and helped them set one up.”
Ms Johnson says she hopes there will be more open days.
“I encourage women to register for the project and to get assistance at their local library. Depending on our funding, we may be able to run open days in other areas,” she said.
Rural Women Online’s help desk is open Wednesdays from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm, running through the end of September. The phone service helps rural women who need assistance with IT and digital services.
Alternatively, women can submit a question to the website, and it will be answered within two days. Ask a question or become a mentor at ruralwomenonline.org.au
“Everyone deserves the support they need to build digital skills,” Ms Crooks said.
“We want women to know that no question is too silly.”
