Is Cryptocurrency a Boys’ Club? The potential of finance has no gender

According to current surveys, girls are nevertheless half as most likely to invest in cryptocurrencies and digital assets as males.

“I got used to being the only woman in the room,” Joni Pirovich advised Cointelegraph by cellphone.

Her tone was not heated as if she was declaring an injustice. It’s the reality, resigned to the reality of it. Pirovich is a digital asset and blockchain lawyer and has been concerned in the crypto sector for numerous many years. She is also a mom of two.

“In a way, it was a real struggle to have my voice heard, to be seen as a legitimate person at the table whose views are worth hearing – let alone respect or obey. “.

Her statement is not shocking, as gender disparity in the industry is not exactly a new thing. In August, CNBC released a survey showing that women are still less than half as likely to invest in crypto as men, with 16% of men investing compared to 7% of women.

This result echoes what Finder’s Cryptocurrency Report had stated the previous June. 22% of men own at least one cryptocurrency, while only 15% of women do.

The crypto industry lies at the crossroads between finance and technology, two areas traditionally affected by gender differences.

A 2021 report by Accenture and Girls Who Code found that the gender gap for women working in tech has actually gotten worse since 1984, from 35% to 32%. It also found that half of young technology-educated women dropped out of school by the age of 35, giving credence to Pirovich’s unfavorable experiences working in the industry.

Meanwhile, an October 2020 research report from Women in VC found that only 4.9% of VC partners in the US are women. The data is even more stark when looking at how the numbers work against women from minorities – just 0.2% of VC partners are Latino women and 0.2% are black women.

Susan Banhegyi, author of Crypto Women and the founder of Crypto Women Global agreed that the problems women face in crypto are the same as those faced by women across all male-dominated industries.

“Some crypto communities may be less welcoming,” she told Cointelegraph, citing harassment and lack of inclusion as some of the problems.

Emilie Wright is the founder of PULSE, an NFT project focused on philanthropy and led by women. She says that in her experience, men in the industry are naturally inclined to give space to other men.

She told Cointelegraph: “My experience, as a woman, is that it gets harder to take over that space, and if you push, you often run into questions about your worthiness. or your credit.

“If I were a man, I would probably feel more accepted, have less self-doubt, and feel less like an imposter in space.”

Acceptance distance

Gender obstacles come not only to women who want to work in the crypto industry, but also to those who want to invest in it.

Previous discourses on crypto have tended to blame risk aversion. Cryptocurrencies make for a notoriously volatile investment, which is a pull factor for many investors chasing attractive returns. Women tend to be more conservative and are risk-averse investors.

But, perhaps this is an easy answer to a complicated question. Wright suggests that if female investors are risk-averse, it’s just because men gamble and take risks are more “socially acceptable.”

“Be it women, there is an underlying pressure on us to be safe, secure, and stick with what is known. To me, this risk is much more significantly acknowledged in the crypto space, and I see far fewer women involved in crypto.”

She added that when she first started investing in crypto, she would spend hours learning about the industry after doing her usual nine to five hours. “I wonder if, as a woman with families, commitments, and busy lives, it would be much more difficult to actually enter this space,” she said.

Amy-Rose Goodey, operations manager and member at Blockchain Australia, has an alternative explanation. She said that women tend to shy away from investing because they are not confident in their understanding of how cryptocurrencies work and they do not ask for help for fear of being ridiculed.

“The ‘risk-averse woman’ claim has continued to circulate for the main reason that women don’t invest in cryptocurrencies. In my experience, this is not the case. Women are eager to invest but don’t feel confident going through the process to buy.”

“[Women] She is more worried about not knowing how to buy Bitcoin than losing her initial investment,” she said. “It seems to be more a question of confidence than fear of risk.”

Their theories are supported by research, which shows that an individual’s confidence is by far the most common predictor of financial risk aversion – regardless of actual financial qualifications. of that individual.

Goodey also said that the crypto industry has begun to make strides in the direction of gender equality as it makes movements towards mainstream adoption:

“From where I am sitting, more and more women are diving headfirst into crypto and investing in general. I don’t see a slowdown anytime soon given the growing appetite for this asset class. ”

This is true, the number of women entering the crypto space has skyrocketed this year as we move closer to mainstream adoption.

In a survey in the UK from January of this year, Gemini found that women make up 41.6% of the 2,000 respondents who are current or former crypto investors. It also shows that 40% of the respondents who said they plan to invest in cryptocurrencies are women.

Related: Empowered Women’s NFT aims to promote women’s participation in cryptocurrency

In July, Robinhood COO Gretchen Howard announced that the number of women using the trading app had increased by 369% compared to the same period last year.

Looking at historical data on gender disparities in crypto shows a rather low benchmark for growth. In 2013, a survey of internet crypto forums showed that out of 1,000 people surveyed, 95.2% of “Bitcoin users” were male. A brokerage study from eToro in February of this year found that 15% of users were women, up from 10% the year before.

Way to represent

As for the path to equal representation, Pirovich says men need to be part of the solution. “It’s about men supporting women in determining that you’re on an all-male board,” she said. Just opt ​​out of the council until at least one other woman speaks up and more equal or diverse representation is on it. ”

Wright agrees, saying that “there are some great men who are supporting and empowering women in the right way, but more needs to be done”.

Banhegyi spoke about the importance of gender equality in the workforce, saying: “The more women working in this industry the better, because community is the foundation of any foundation.”

Cryptocurrencies have the potential to empower women and give them more control over their finances. And for many women, mainstream adoption has begun to remove some of the barriers of accessibility that previously stood between them and potential benefits.