\n
![](\"https:\/\/images.cointelegraph.com\/images\/840_aHR0cHM6Ly9zMy5jb2ludGVsZWdyYXBoLmNvbS91cGxvYWRzLzIwMjEtMTIvYTNhZmJmNzAtOGVjYy00ZGMwLWI5MGYtYzJhYTc5YzYzMmQ5LmpwZw==.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
\u201cI am used to being the only woman in the room,\u201d Joni Pirovich told Cointelegraph over the phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Her tone wasn\u2019t impassioned like she was claiming an injustice. It was matter-of-fact, resigned to the truth of it. Pirovich is a blockchain and digital assets lawyer and has been involved in the crypto industry for years. She\u2019s also a mom of two.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn some ways, it’s been a real struggle to have my voice heard, to be seen as a legitimate person at the table that has views worth listening to \u2014 let alone respecting or following.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Her claim wasn\u2019t shocking, since gender disparity in this industry isn\u2019t exactly a new talking point. Back in August, CNBC released<\/a> a survey that found that women are still less than half as likely to invest in cryptocurrencies than men, with 16% of men investing vs 7% of women. <\/p>\n
These results echoed what Finder\u2019s Crypto Report had claimed<\/a> months earlier in June.It stated that 22% of men own at least one sort of cryptocurrency, while only 15% of women do.<\/p>\n
\nReminder that twice as many men invest in crypto than women, and women only make up 16% of the NFT market. Thanks @ReeseW<\/a> and other women leaders in the space who are committed to changing that.<\/p>\n
\u2014 bobbyhundreds.eth (@bobbyhundreds) December 5, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The crypto industry sits at a crossroads between finance and technology, two sectors that have been traditionally dogged by gender disparity. <\/p>\n
A 2021 report by Accenture and Girls Who Code found<\/a> that the gender gap for women working in the tech sector has actually worsened since 1984, from 35% to 32%. It also found that half of the young women who go into tech drop out by the age of 35, giving credence to Pirovich\u2019s unfavorable experiences working in the industry.<\/p>\n
\nSome of you have never had to schedule dedicated time each month in your calendar to remove all the “nice boobs”https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/”she’s cute”https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/”can she actually code?”https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/”get back in the kitchen” comments from your technical videos on YouTube, and honestly? It shows.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Chloe Condon (@ChloeCondon) August 10, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Meanwhile, an Oct. 2020 research report from Women in VC found<\/a> that only 4.9% of United States-based VC partners are women. The data gets even more sobering when looking at how the numbers stack up against women from minority groups \u2014 only 0.2% of VC partners are Latinx women and 0.2% are black women. <\/p>\n
Susan Banhegyi, author of Women in Crypto<\/em> and founder of Crypto Women Global agreed that the issues women face in crypto are the same plaguing women across the whole scope of male-dominated industries.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome crypto communities can be less than welcoming,\u201d she told Cointelegraph, citing harassment and a lack of inclusion as some issues.<\/p>\n
\nThe first time I genuinely felt the sexism in tech was when I applied for a sys admin role when I was 16, and the interviewer told me “you’re a girl so you can’t do this job. You’re too weak to lift desktop computers”.<\/p>\n
Yes these guys exist.<\/p>\n
\u2014 Lou (@lovelacecoding) November 29, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Emilie Wright is the founder of PULSE, a charity-focused and women-led NFT project. She said that in her experience, men in the industry tend to naturally make space for other men.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy experience, as a woman, is that it is harder to occupy that space, and if you push for it you are often met with questions about how deserving you are of it or your credibility,\u201d she told Cointelegraph.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I were a man, I would probably feel more accepted, doubt myself less and feel less of an imposter in the space.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The adoption gap<\/h2>\n
Gendered obstacles don\u2019t only come for women wanting to work in the crypto industry, but also for those looking to invest in it. <\/p>\n
Previous discourse about the crypto gender tends to blame risk aversion. Crypto makes a notoriously volatile investment which is a pull factor for many investors chasing lucrative gains. Women stereotypically tend to be more conservative<\/a> and risk-averse investors. <\/p>\n
But, perhaps this is an easy answer to a complicated question. Wright suggested that if risk aversion does exist among female investors, that\u2019s only because it\u2019s more \u201csocially acceptable\u201d for men to gamble and take risks. <\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe as women, there is an underlying pressure on us to be safe, secure and stick to the known. For me, this risk is much more significantly acknowledged in the cryptocurrency space, and I see less women involved in cryptocurrency.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
She added that when she first started investing in crypto, she would spend hours learning about the industry after working her usual nine-to-five job. She said, \u201cI wonder if, as women with families, commitments and busy lives, it makes it much more difficult to actually enter the space.\u201d<\/p>\n
Amy-Rose Goodey, the operations and membership manager at Blockchain Australia, has an alternative explanation. She said that women tend to shy away from investing because they aren\u2019t confident in their understanding of how crypto works, and they don\u2019t ask for help for fear of being ridiculed, stating: <\/p>\n
\u201cThe statement \u2018women are risk averse\u2019 has continued to circulate as the primary reason women do not invest in crypto. In my experience, this is not the case. Women are very keen to invest but do not feel confident in going through the process to buy.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201c[Women] are more anxious about not knowing how to buy Bitcoin rather than losing the initial investment,\u201d she said. \u201cIt appears to be more a question of confidence rather than risk aversion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their theories are backed<\/a> up by research, showing that an individual\u2019s confidence is by far the most pervasive predictor of financial risk aversion \u2014 regardless of the individual\u2019s actual financial literacy. <\/p>\n
Goodey also said the crypto industry is already starting to make strides towards gender parity as it makes movements towards mainstream adoption: <\/p>\n
\u201cFrom where I am sitting, there is a growing number of women diving headfirst into crypto and investment on the whole. I do not see slowing down any time soon with a growing appetite for this asset class.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
This is true, the amount of women diving into the crypto space has skyrocketed this year as we inch closer towards mainstream adoption. <\/p>\n
In a United Kingdom survey from January this year, Gemini found<\/a> that women made up 41.6% of the 2,000 respondents who were current or previous crypto investors. It also found that 40% of the respondents who said they planned to invest in crypto were women. <\/p>\n
Related: <\/em><\/strong>NFTs of empowered women aim to drive female engagement in crypto<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n
In July, Robinhood COO Gretchen Howard claimed the number of women using the trading application<\/a> had increased 369% year-on-year.<\/p>\n
Looking at the historical data on gender disparity in crypto shows a pretty low benchmark for growth. In 2013, a survey on crypto forums across the internet found<\/a> that out of the 1,000 people surveyed, 95.2% of \u201cBitcoin users\u201d were male. A brokerage study from eToro in Feb. of this year found<\/a> that 15% of its users were women, an increase from 10% the previous year. <\/p>\n
The road to representation <\/h2>\n
As for the road to equal representation, Pirovich said that men need to be part of the solution. She said, \u201cIt\u2019s about men supporting women to identify that you\u2019re on an all-male panel. Just choose not to be a part of it until at least another woman is speaking and more equal representation or diverse representation is on that panel.\u201d <\/p>\n
Wright agreed, saying that \u201cthere are some amazing men who are supporting and empowering women in the right way, but there needs to be a lot more done.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThere is an incredible amount of sexism and discrimination in this space. I could not imagine being a woman in crypto – they take an incredible amount of undeserved criticism and are rarely taken as seriously as their male counterparts. This needs to stop.<\/p>\n