The social media platform Steemit reflects on how the company can bring more women to the growing industry of blockchain and cryptocurrency. A conversation prompted by a post by a Steemit blogger highlighting the under-representation of women in cryptocurrency led to a discussion encompassing the influences of assumption and social pressure on who joins the crypto world, financial hurdles that disproportionately affect women, and some leading female voices and communities in the field.
Read below and click through to learn more about the advantages women can bring to the industry, the role of blogging and social media, and how socially focused companies and initiatives like Steemit are positioned to help promote women in this dynamic industry.
A few day ago, @gavvet shared a post about some interesting demographic data about Steemit that showed how male presence is still highly dominant on Steemit. I wasn't surprised. When I first started my journey on Steemit and learning more about the crypto world I knew I was getting into a male territory since, similarly to other tech-powered communities, anything related to cryptocurrency is still predominantly male.
The reason to that can be attributed to the social mindset that lean some fields to the male or female side. Men get interested in the crypto world because other men are starting to invest on it. Women don't because it's not an area they feel women should step their feet into. In addition, the lack of women in the crypto world is due to the fact that in many places, like Brazil and India, a big part of women are still not financially independent and still rely on the males of their family for money-related decision making.
The Female Representation on the Cryptocurrency World
Although women, in general, haven't been attracted to cryptocurrency subjects, there are some important names representing the gender, such as Michele Seven. Known as Bitcoin Belle, she participates in discussions and podcasts about the future of Bitcoin and together with Pua Pyland, the author of the blog The Bitcoin Wife hosts a chat where 130 women from all around the world discuss cryptocurrencies and blockchain.
The forum led to the creation of the London Women in Bitcoin meetups, organized by Rhian Lewis - a digital journalist at thetimes.co.uk, co-developer of CountMyCrypto, a cryptocurrency calculator, and altcoin monitor - and Magdalena, also known as Bitcoin Mama.
The advantage of these meetups comparing to any other similar to them are that women feel more comfortable to participate and learn since general crypto meetups are regularly perceived as directed towards men. Where women perhaps would never have courage or the desire to participate in discussions with men whom they would perceive as being intimidatingly knowledgeable to address beginner questions. So it's important to remark that the question of the inclusion of women in the crypto community is directly related to how its promoters address the wider community.
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