The Turkish government and Google launched a digital literacy education program for women yesterday. In the first stage of the program, women who serve as neighborhood and village leaders and female members of village and neighborhood councils were taught how to efficiently use digital technologies.

The project aims to polish women's skills, "to make them more proactive in an expanding digital world" as Minister of Family and Social Policies Fatma Betül Sayan Kaya said at the launch ceremony in Istanbul. "We cannot reach our development goals without the contribution of women," Kaya added.

Turkey aims to boost the female workforce in the IT sector and make them more skilled in digital literacy. Kaya says they plan to train at least 200,000 women by 2023, the centenary of the Republic of Turkey, in IT branches ranging from coding to digital marketing and cyber-security.

"We need to raise awareness and make women more efficiently use the opportunities that the digital world offers," the minister said.

Digital literacy classes on safe Internet use, efficient use of e-mail, the use of cloud computing technology and basic data literacy are part of the project. The government already runs training programs for women and girls on safe use of the Internet, and the Family and Social Policies Ministry holds event to attract more young women to the IT sector. Minister Kaya said they strive to increase the rate of girls enrolled in undergraduate information technologies studies from 29 percent to 50 percent.