Is Cryptofield a men's club? The future of finance is gender

“I was the only woman in the room,” Joni Pirovich told Cointelegraph over the phone.

Her voice seems to express the truth rather than a passion for injustice. Pirovich is a blockchain and digital assets lawyer who has worked in the crypto industry for many years. She is also the mother of two children.

"It is very difficult for others to hear me one way or another and make people believe that I am a legitimate person with a meaning worth listening to, let alone respect or support. . "

Gender differences in this industry are not a new concept, so this is a complaint. A survey released by CNBC in early August found that women, at 16% of men and 7% of women, are still less than half the chance to invest in cryptocurrency than men.

These findings affect the Encryption report released by Finder in June. According to the report, 22% of men have at least one cryptocurrency, while only 15% of women have at least one cryptocurrency.

There are twice as many men as women investing in cryptocurrencies, and women only make up 16% of the NFT market. Thanks to @ReeseW and other women leaders in the work for making this possible.

--Bobbyhundreds.eth (@bobbyhundreds) November 5, 2021

The cryptocurrency market is at the crossroads of finance and technology, and these two industries are struggling due to gender differences.

According to a report released in 2021 by Accenture and the Young Women Act, the gap between women and men in the tech industry has fallen from 35% to 32% since 1984. Research also shows that half of young women enter. in the tech industry before the age of 35. This acknowledges the dissatisfaction of Pirovich working in the industry.

At the same time, according to a survey conducted by Women in VCs in October 2020, only 4.9% of participants in the United States were women. If you look at women of the race, the data is colder. 0.2% of venture capitalists are Latino women and 0.2% are black women.

Susan Banhegyi, author of Women in Crypto and Founder of Crypto Women Global, also believes that the challenges women face in crypto are the same thing that drives women to crack down in every male-dominated industry.

“Some crypto communities may not be very popular,” he told Cointelegraph. He talks about bullying and lack of cooperation as a problem.

The first time I heard about sex in science and technology was when I was 16. At the time, I was applying for a system manager position. The investigator told me, “You can do it because you are female, don't do this job. You are not too strong to carry a desktop computer.

Yes, these people exist.

-Lu (@lovelacecoding) November 29, 2021

Emilie Wright is the founder of PULSE, a women-led company focused on NFT services. In his own experience, he said, men in industry always like to be with other men.

She told Cointelegraph: "In my experience, it is more difficult to hold this position as a woman. If you work for her, you will be faced with questions about your qualifications or your credit."

"If I had been a man I probably would have felt better. I wouldn't have doubted myself so much, I wouldn't have felt cheated."

adoption spread

Gender issues exist not only for women who want to work in the cryptocurrency industry, but also for women who want to invest in the cryptocurrency industry.

Previous conversations about encrypted sex were often criticized for being risk averse. As we all know, cryptocurrencies are very fragile investments that many investors are looking to reap huge rewards. In the stereotype, female investors are generally more conservative and risk averse.

However, that would be a simple answer to a difficult question. Wright believes that there is a high risk of women getting involved in business, as men are more likely to be "community acquired" for gambling and risk taking.

“Maybe as women we are struggling to stay safe and do what we know. I see that risk of being more recognized in the crypto space and I see the engagement. There is very little. women in crypto. "

He said that when he started investing in cryptocurrencies, he worked 9 to 5 every day and then spent many hours learning about the market. “I want to know if women with families, responsibilities and busy lives find it difficult to enter this field,” she said.

Amy-Rose Goodey, Head of Operations and Partnerships at Blockchain Australia, provided another explanation. He said women like to avoid investing because they don't fully understand how cryptocurrencies work and don't ask for help for fear of criticism. he says:

“The main reason women don't invest in cryptocurrencies is that they are“ risk averse women. ”In my experience, they don't. Invest, but they don't. not trust the purchase. "

“(Women) are more concerned with not knowing how to buy bitcoin than with losing their initial capital,” he said. "It seems to be a matter of confidence rather than a matter of risk aversion."

Their thinking is supported by research, which shows that, regardless of a person's actual financial experience, a person's reliability is the most predictable measure of reliability.

Goodey also said that as the crypto industry grows in adoption importance, it begins to achieve gender equality.

“In my opinion, more and more women are turning to crypto and investing. I don't think it will slow down in the short term as the demand for this property is still high. increase further.

It is true that the number of women entering the cryptocurrency space has increased this year as cryptocurrency reaches the importance of adoption.

According to a survey conducted by Gemini in the UK in January this year, 41.6% of the 2,000 respondents were female and were currently or previously engaged in cryptocurrency trading. The survey also found that 40% of those surveyed considering investing in cryptocurrencies are women.

In July of this year, Robinhood chief executive Gretchen Howard said the number of women using the app market was up 369% from the previous year.

Looking at the historical data of gender differences in cryptocurrencies, we can see that the growth bar is very low. A 2013 Internet Crypto Forum survey found that out of 1,000 researchers, 95.2% of “Bitcoin users” were male. In February of this year, an eToro brokerage study found that 15% of users were female, up from 10% a year earlier.

path to the agent

On the road to equal representation, Pirovic says men should be part of the solution.

Wright agrees. "There are good men who support and inspire women in the right way, but there are a lot of things we need to do."

There is a lot of sexism and discrimination in this area. I can't imagine the previous experience of being a woman in the crypto industry. They get a lot of inappropriate reviews and don't make it as heavy as men. This situation must end.

- The Wolf of All Roads (@scottmelker) November 9, 2019

Speaking about the importance of achieving gender equality in the labor market, Banhegyi said, “The more women there are working in this industry, the better, because community is the foundation of every platform. -form.

Cryptocurrencies have the potential to empower women and give them more control over their finances. For many women, adoption is important to begin to remove some of the barriers that previously existed between them and their benefits.