Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) in Tech & Web3
Diversity, equity, and inclusion matter significantly in tech if we want to create a world without bias and discrimination. It matters if we are to create a world where everyone gets to have the same chances no matter their race, skin color, gender, disability, or sexuality. According to Protocol’s interview with black people in tech, six Black founders admitted to facing biased assumptions, racism, and harassment as they’ve tried to pitch their companies to investors.
When we incorporate DEI actively in tech, we can get the best of what people offer and make the world a better place.
KaJ Labs’ Pledge
In 2020, KaJ Labs pledged to contribute $50 million over 10 years to non-profit organizations that support racial and social justice. On the second anniversary of that pledge, KaJ Labs announced that the organization will allocate an additional $40 million over a 10-year period to non-profit groups working toward racial justice and equity in the U.S. The funds will come from Litho’s social responsibility allocation vault. The tech company offers free resources, such as hosting and development services, to tech startups run by Black entrepreneurs.
In a recent interview, KaJ Labs founder and Chief Scientist, Joel Kasr stated that blockchain, specifically actual DeFi applications, will play a significant role in removing bias in several of our daily human interactions. Thus, KaJ Labs launched LITHO.ai to address several bottlenecks hindering mainstream Web3 adoption, address deep-rooted bias, and empower underrepresented communities. “By building trustless services and products, we truly believe we can take bias out of lending, leasing, short-term credit, fundraising, investing, and many more business sectors that impact our daily lives” said Kasr.
How We Can All Get Involved
“All the systems that would be excluding these underrepresented people, if managed right, shouldn’t exist in a Web3 world, but this is up to those who are shaping Web3. If we don’t have diverse people building with intention from the start, Web3 is just going to replicate web 2 with the same modes of oppression” — Paff Evara in her interview with Information Age.
We can all be part of solving this major problem by being intentional about educating, encouraging and providing opportunities for people to go into the Web3 space.
We must all join hands to build a world of diversity, equity, and inclusion!
