What happens when the wild, wild west of the Internet and its brain child the World Wide Web is bought back by women? And not just any women. Specifically women who do not look like women who have traditionally climbed the ranks in big tech companies or owned large swaths of land.
We have got to remember that previous generations of feminists often left out large groups of women from the table. I am here as a humanist who wants to see all women thrive. I have been building toward this my whole life, from selling Bubblicious under a bunk bed to standing here now. In setting up women for success, we set up our families, communities and cities to also thrive. So let's talk about building the next version of the web and maybe even turning the internet inside out.
The Women Who Built the Foundation
Before we talk about what is next, let's not forget the women who were key in building the technologies we rely on daily. Ada Lovelace wrote the first algorithms. Radia Pearlman was fundamental to the evolution of the technology called ethernet. And of course, Grace Hopper, who worked on the very first computer built, Mark 1, and coined the term "bug." True story.
I do not want to break the internet. I just want to buy it back for its shared, collective powers of community.
But First, Tech for Bad?
Notably, the first version of the internet's usage, Web 1, was first piloted by the United States military. Knowing that information, it is not surprising that our current model of Web 2 is still patriarchal in form and thus very, very extractive. Its aim is not to leave you with the warm fuzzies. It is to divide and conquer, to search and destroy. We are often asked to give our "consent" by checking little boxes with even smaller print. But what are we even consenting to and what are we getting for that exchange?
We cannot simply put pink on the patriarchy. I am not simply calling for all the ladies to use tech faster and more furiously in our pantsuits and stern resting boss faces. That is tired and I for one am totally over it.
Introducing #Tequity
What I am calling for is taking the few good parts of our current model of the internet and building better with you, me and all the people who were not involved in Web 1 or Web 2 builds. #Tequity is when we evolve the use of technology with the equity of all humans in mind. And when women, people of color and any underrepresented human can gain access to and edit the blueprints of that which will form our lived experience, that builds #Tequity.
#Tequity = Technology + Equity
If you listen to or read any bit of information on AI, the next generation of the web, or the speed at which these technologies are advancing, you will hear over and over again: "Nobody knows. There are no experts who have the answers. We are still very much writing the rules." The more often I hear that no one is actually in charge of this evolution, the more fired up I get about using #Tequity as a guide rail.
The Numbers Are Clear
Women make up 52% of the US population. We make up 47.7% of the global workforce. 11.6 million US businesses are owned by women contributing 1.7 trillion dollars to the US economy. If we took even just 1% of this energy in numbers and directed it to build the next version of the web with women's wealth, health and leadership in mind, we would not only see a new way of using tech but also an increased quality of life.
The Digital Revolution Is Being Televised
I suggest a full system upgrade. Going back to our vision of women, all women, having access to the information and the application of that knowledge into our daily lives, we can begin to ensure all of humanity will experience true equity in ways that the current use of the internet simply does not provide.
Generative, Not Extractive
Let me be honest. I am not interested in breaking the internet but I would like to buy it back from the gentlemen of tech who built it. And let's be clear, I do not want to buy back the internet so I can be the queen of the hill. I would like to be the Robyn Hood of the internet: redistributing the powers of access to tools and resources and flipping the script on how we do business.
We tell new stories. We write new code. And we weave together better connective threads that do not divide but instead stitch us closer together.
We no longer accept that the only people fit for expansion of ideas and integration into our cultures are white men. We write ourselves, all women, into the story.
We are no longer just interested in shattering glass ceilings by way of climbing some ladder. We are breaking down doorways, telling gatekeepers to keep moving and establishing new roots in a digital world grounded strongly in the human experience, not just the bottom line. We can absolutely build tech for good with the outcome of a generative product instead of a simply extractive one.
Building Business 4 Good
We collaborate with other women who have this same mission, albeit different copy, and write these new stories into the DNA of technology. That is all that code really is: storylines, scripts and maps. It is a series of prompts, stories that are told to systems to replicate, expand upon or automate. Those prompts are written by humans. Let us create these prompts to code for our colorful, varied and non monolithic human experience.
When we ask AI to find an image of people on a beach, we need AI to know that "people on a beach" means more than one kind of person on one kind of beach. True story.
This is why we are building a new economic model for women in business, powered by collective intelligence and technology. A model where your knowledge has value, your sovereignty matters, and the technology works for us instead of the other way around. That is Business 4 Good.
And if you are so bold as to call all of this political, I will say: you are absolutely right. As I wrote in another piece, my very existence is political. Money and sex always end up being very political when gatekeepers keep gatekeeping. And real community is how we build the alternative.
Let's GLOW UP the internet. Together.
Love,
Rose
