Blockchain & Cryptocurrency: Where Are All The Women?
By: Kathryn Kuchefski
Tags: Gender Stereotypes, Women In Tech, Anonymity, Cryptocurrency, Blockchain

“As with most things tech related,” Phu Styles, founder of the Women in Blockchain Foundation said, “men are the target demographic for crypto, thus due to a lack of exposure, there are fewer women invested/involved in cryptocurrency.”

As of May 2018, coin.dance estimated that only 5.27% of women are actively engaged in the Bitcoin community as opposed to 94.73% of men. But why? It all boils down to traditional societal stereotypes. We live in a male-dominated culture, and in the crypto world this group is referred to as ‘blockchain bros’.

Various studies have been done comparing how men and women make decisions under stress. It was concluded that men are not only capable of taking more significant risks, but also tend to do so at a greater pace under such pressure. Such decision making is only exacerbated in the world of banking and finance. The same can be said for those involved in the blockchain and cryptocurrency community.

So is it possible that the volatile nature of crypto along with its varying levels of risk and adversity account for the gender disparity? Are men ‘biologically assigned’ to take on the unpredictable nature of such industries as blockchain and crypto?

“When facing a risky decision, leaders must weigh a lot of factors. Two of the biggest are, first, the likelihood that the risk in question will help hit strategic objectives and, second, the effect the risk will have on people involved” Risk Taking Leadership Consultant, Doug Sundheim said. “In my consulting practice I’ve noticed a tendency for men to put a stronger emphasis on the former and women on the latter.”

Men make decisions and take risks thinking more about how much money can be made and how fast, while women tend to first think about who their decision will affect.

The third significant barrier for women in crypto is the unspoken rule that women in crypto do not talk about being women in crypto. Why? Once again, gender stereotypes. Women have a suppressed fear of succeeding in the realm of blockchain thinking men will not support their thinking or business decisions, no matter how good.

“What you’re observing is really a reflection of the much larger complications of gender and work and power in American society,” said Joy Rankin, a historian of gender and technology and an assistant professor at Michigan State University. “This is a microcosm of all of the challenges of a developing, burgeoning sector of the economy that has a lot of promise but is therefore also fraught with high stakes.”

According to the Forbes database, 19 of the wealthiest individuals involved in crypto are men, but zero women. Mainstream society success and opportunity is still mostly a product of a male-dominated world.

To break through, women must strike a delicate balance between representation while also respecting their roll in what is still a male-dominant world.

By nature, crypto is anonymous, so anyone can contribute to the technology, mine various currencies as well as create a digital wallet without any sort of identification. This anonymity allows women the perfect platform to engage in blockchain and crypto. But, they must do so tenuously. While women can and will do great things, society must first warm up to this new norm.

Here are more interesting thoughts from Crypto PR Lab Co-Founders, Masha Prusakova and Alexandra Karpova…

· What can companies do to attract more women to invest in crypto?

Alexandra: Companies can research specific areas that women are gifted in (communication, marketing, community building, etc.), and then seek out more women to help in those areas. Crypto is also very confusing to the average public. Women may have the potential to use their gift of connecting with listeners, to explain crypto better.

Masha: To foster diversity, companies need to get more women interested in crypto, understand it and only then invest. This could mean organizing regular crypto discussions for women, setting up weekly “women in crypto” meetups, or even building internal workshops to teach one another about the newest trends in crypto.

Then, education around blockchain and cryptocurrencies needs to be more readily available. Communities like Girls Who Code and CodingFTW (which offers scholarships for EOS hackathons) can get involved in the crypto space. It will bring more awareness into this space — ultimately making it an industry that doesn’t just have more females but is also female-friendly.

Finally, the successes of the leading women in crypto should be publicly recognized. We should raise awareness about their achievements, interview them and write about them in the media, and invite them as speakers and mentors for emerging startups. Such exposure to female role models will motivate more women to explore blockchain technology and invest in crypto.

· Why do you think women are not investing?

Masha: Possibly out of lack of natural interest. Possibly out of intimidation, thinking that it’s not their “thing” to invest in general, possibly making mental correlations with traditional finance and its larger barrier to entry.

Besides that, cryptocurrency operates at the intersection of computer science and finance — two industries that women have historically been excluded from. The worlds of blockchain and cryptocurrency are predominantly driven by the development community, a demographic where most professionals are male. This is partly due to the fact that men tend to pursue finance in higher education at a markedly higher rate than females. In fact, a recent study by Glassdoor showed that men accounted for more than 61% of new degrees obtained in finance.

However, the opportunity for female founders to drive massive innovation in the space is bigger than ever — and by pursuing leadership roles, females can ensure they get equal recognition with their male counterparts as well. A number of recent high-profile appointments in the crypto space (such as a16z’s appointment of Katie Haun as the head of its crypto investment fund) have many believing that true change isn’t just possible — but inevitable.

· What is your reaction to the statement that the world of cryptocurrency is a boys club?

Alexandra: It depends on who you talk to. There are likely people who think this. But there are also many men in the crypto community who would like to see more women in crypto. This has been seen many times on Twitter.

Masha: It started as a boys club but not anymore. Male and white — this was the start of the cryptocurrency world. Since the early days of cryptocurrencies, miners and blockchain developers are men. Today’s token projects reflect gender imbalance in the content and nature of the applications and features being built. So it is true that there are more men in the industry because of the historical reasons. Although, women feel very welcome to be part of this club and expand it to become a girls club too.

Thank you Masha and Alexandra and learn more about how these trends are changing in Part 2.