Lenovo’s New Realities project showcases women empowering their communities through technology Growing up in a rural village in India, Ashwini Doddalingappanavar was expected to follow the example of the women before her: stay close, get married and have children. She defied her community’s expectations to forge her own path. She learned how to use a mobile phone and access online maps, which made her confident when traveling by herself. And she quickly picked up on how search engines could help her find other answers. “I no longer feel any fear with so much direct access to knowledge,” she says. Now she works full-time educating teachers – more than 300 so far – using technology to help them be more effective in class. “I got a lot of pressure to marry and settle down because of my culture and family values, [ more… ]