Is Blockchain Employing A “Proof-Of-Worth” Culture?
National Women’s Small Business Month celebrates women-owned businesses across the United States. Should the blockchain industry join the celebration, or is culture holding us back?
Both a time of celebration and reflection, October celebrates the 13 million women-owned companies that now represent 42% of all businesses in the United States.
Yes, if we compare this to before 1988 when women needed male relatives to cosign business loans, then the progress is undeniably a cause for celebration.
However, while celebrating how far we’ve come, we want to take a step further and look at women in technology — more specifically, blockchain — where barriers to promotion and unconscious bias keep the industry significantly behind the 42% mentioned above.
Proving Worth
As tech companies continue to advance, the gender imbalances within them have yet to even out. Currently, 72% of women report being outnumbered by men in business meetings by at least a 2:1 ratio. Even more troubling, 26% of women report being outnumbered by at least a 5:1 ratio.
While being outnumbered does give insight into the lack of diversity, the gender imbalance is far more than a statistic. The lack of inclusive culture makes women feel like they have to work harder to prove their worth, leading them to leave tech roles at a 45% higher rate than men.
Blocked Off From Blockchain
Similar to the technology industry as a whole, it’s an unfortunate but slowly disappearing fact that the blockchain space is male-dominated. In 2018, only 14.5% of employees and 7% of managers at cryptocurrency startups were women.
Thankfully, 2020 brought more women into the blockchain space — and even better, into leadership roles. For example, Galia Benartzi co-founded Bancor, and Huobi appointed Ciara Sun as their first female executive. Additionally, Bancor and fellow crypto giant Binance have workforces made up of 40%–50% women.
Women-Owned and Empowered
As a women-owned software consultancy and smart contract development company, Upstate Interactive recognizes how important it is to incorporate a variety of perspectives into the decision-making process. Having a ⅔ female leadership team, a 58% female workforce, and an inclusive culture of shared ideas and diverse skill sets enables us to offer a broader range of innovative solutions.
To further empower women in the technology community, our team members founded Hack Upstate, Careers in Code, and Women in Coding. Additionally, UI co-founders Zoe and Kseniya are members of Meta Gamma Delta, a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that provides mentorship, resources, and grants to women-led projects.
What’s Next?
While we contribute to and advocate for the inclusion of women in the blockchain space, there is still much-needed progress to be made in the industry.
We’re proud to be a part of the conversation.
“Being a woman-owned business with female engineers on our team means that we are showing other women and girls in the tech space that it can be done. To drive diversity and inclusion, we need role models who represent the world we live in rather than a subset of society. I’m proud that Upstate Interactive can serve as a role model.” — Kseniya Lifanova, Partner, Co-founder
“In a traditionally male-dominated field, we’ve witnessed the effort it takes for women to break into the technology industry and have seen the value that diversity brings to the workplace. Our team has a passion for sharing knowledge and creating opportunities for others to contribute to innovative projects. We hope we can serve as a positive example.” — Zoe Koulouris Augustinos, Partner, Co-founder
“We’re proud to be a women-owned business and fortunate to have the opportunity to build a Web 3.0 company. We invest in and support individuals who have the passion and capacity to help us build a better world with decentralized technology.” — Doug Crescenzi, Partner, Co-founder
