Where Are The Women In Web3?

For all its promises of democratisation, Web3 remains very much a male-dominated space. How can we build a fairer and more equitable virtual society - one that supports and advances women as much as men?

- Delle Chan

Society has long been dominated by men – for over 10,000 years and counting, in fact. Patriarchy as a social system first took root around 9,000 BC, when agriculture was invented. Back then, land and property was passed down the male line by default, and so men came to the fore – and have remained there ever since. Centuries on, men are still vastly more likely than women to hold positions of power in both the physical and virtual realms.

But what if we could create a whole new world – one where both men and women have a seat at the table? This is one of the principles underpinning Web3, which is essentially a decentralised, democratised version of the Internet built on blockchain technology, thus dramatically changing the way information is stored and shared.

In this utopian virtual reality, power isn’t wielded by a select few entities, as it is in Web2 – the version of the Internet we know today, where large corporations provide services in exchange for users’ personal data. Instead, ownership and control lie with the masses, and decisions are made as a collective. And for some women, this represents a chance to level the playing field and build a more equitable society for all.

MORE EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES

However, the truth is that Web3 is still very much a boys’ club. Take the cryptocurrency industry, for instance. While bitcoin is aimed at encouraging financial equity, less than 5 per cent of crypto entrepreneurs are women, according to crypto platform Crypto Head. Crypto exchange Gemini also states that three in four crypto holders are men. This gender gap is also all too apparent in the NFT economy: Research firm Arttactic notes that only 16 per cent of NFT artists are female, and that male creator represent a whopping 77 per cent of art sales.