LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network, said on Wednesday it would invest $500,000 or Rs 3.88 crore in partnership with UN Women to promote women’s economic empowerment.

The statement said that the project would be piloted in Maharashtra to develop digital, soft and employable skills for 2,000 women and provide them with career development opportunities through job fairs, mentoring sessions and peer-to-peer networking.

It added that the three-year regional cooperation would digitally upskill women, provide them with more employment opportunities, and enable them to participate in the formal economy fully.

The partnership will follow the Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEP), a set of effective, actionable principles on how businesses can promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in the workplace, markets and communities.

UN Women and LinkedIn will leverage online platforms and institutional expertise to convene partners to support women’s economic empowerment.

Together, they will host joint advocacy campaigns and events and bring key partners from their respective networks to achieve broadly equal opportunities and outcomes for women and men in the workplace.

In addition, UN Women will use its partnership to provide young women with onboarding opportunities across industries, focusing on operating the LinkedIn platform and network.

A disproportionate number of women lack basic internet access. The statement said that 54.6% of men in Asia have access to the internet, compared to 41.3% of women. Hence, developing gender-sensitive technology policies in the Asia-Pacific region is crucial.

In an increasingly digital world, women and girls often do not have access to the same educational opportunities or types of education as men and boys, which sometimes reduces their digital skills and literacy rates, leading to reduced economic opportunities. The massive impact of COVID-19 over the past two years has only widened the opportunity gap for women and girls.

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After a 15-month pilot, UN Women and LinkedIn will integrate lessons learned and assessment feedback as needed to refine the program before rolling it out to other Asia-Pacific countries where UN Women is located.