FCC Commissioner Clyburn at the Progressive Policy Institute

It is safe to say women, regardless of credentials, still face all sorts of barriers and the fact that these are disproportionately higher in the tech sector is troubling, telling, but unfortunately, not shocking. That college-educated African Americans and Latinos have benefited greatly from the recent tech jobs boom, and that tech-driven investment and innovation is a potent force for narrowing wealth and income gaps, is surprising and great news to me, but I highlight this indisputable fact: that gaps remain and that potential cited in the report, to narrow those gaps, will never be fully realized without some good old-fashioned, low-to no-tech, person to person intervention and shifts in policies and practices when it comes to recruitment, retention and the funding of concepts and projects.

The common denominator in all of this, however, is access to the Internet...one way where we can more directly address this effectively, is through the only Universal Service program established to bridge the communications affordability gap. But we must not only must reset and retarget Lifeline's operations, but alter our mindset about this program, our approach to today's tech challenges as well as all other persistent divides that prevent this nation and its citizens from realizing their fullest potential.