Making all voices count online and “IRL”

In my lifetime, the rise of digital communications has changed nearly every aspect of our daily activities. And in foreign policy, the world is changing as a result of digital’s ability to give a voice to so many. We have seen social media play a huge role in regime change in the Arab world, we have seen world leaders tweet at each other after decades of silence, and we have seen children in developing nations access educational materials that changed their understanding of the world. The (relatively) egalitarian nature of the digital world is one that inspires progress off the computer screen—or tablet or phone.

While men still make up the majority of the tech world, women have been crucial players from the start, holding decisive leadership roles. In the United States, women are now more likely than men to use social media. US magazine Marie-Claire has a terrific profile this month of women changing the nature of how we use digital, from news to business to nonprofits (sadly it’s behind a paywall, but this CNN piece is pretty good too).

So it was of some surprise to me that Twitter did not have a single female representative on its board. In the true spirit of the Internet age, users took to Twitter and blogs to suggest names to fix the gap. Twitter announced earlier this month that Marjorie Scardino would join the board as its first female representative. Scardino, who was born in the US, is a UK citizen and lives in London. She was CEO of The Economist Group and also of Pearson, a UK publishing and education company.

Congratulations to Scardino, and to Twitter for making a smart addition to their board. This is just the latest example of the breadth of the digital UK-US relationship, which spans from government to private industry to individual users. Austin, Texas and the London Borough of Hackney signed a Friendship City agreement to foster high-tech and digital media exchanges. Hackney is home to London’s Tech City, a technology hub in east London. The number of tech and digital companies is skyrocketing in London—a new report says employment in the sector in London grew by more than 16 percent between 2009 and 2012. US giants, like Twitter, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft, among others, are part of this surge.

Beyond the board room, there’s still more we need to do to expand digital access for everyone and to help more women around their world have a platform for their voices. According to a 2012 report from Intel, nearly 25% fewer women around the world have access to the Internet than men. That number soars to a 45% gap in regions like sub-Saharan Africa. And globally, nearly three-quarters of the developing world’s population is not using the interent, according to the International Telecommunications Union.

The UK government, through its Department for International Development (DFID), has invested in projects around the world to increase access and use of information and communication technology. In Kenya, for example, DFID joined up with Vodafone to create a mobile money operation that has helped build a system that allows nearly 19 million Kenyans to send money to other members of their family with the push of a button. DFID and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) both support Making All Voices Count, a global initiative to help people harness new technologies to change how they engage with their governments. And the British Council and Microsoft partnered together and are building digital hubs at schools and community centres across Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, Ghana and Nigeria.

Company boardrooms and internet chat rooms should both reflect the diversity of societies. We will only be able to solve the real life challenges if we harness the power of all voices.