A bold playbook for women in blockchain

of Bridget Greenwood by The Bigger Pie

As the Silicon Valley Bank tech startup scene fizzles out, and in the wake of last year’s bombs — including the collapse of Terra Luna, 3 Arrows Capital, Celsius, and FTX — you might be wondering why I think it’s an important time to talk about diversity, justice, inclusion and belonging (DEIB).

Especially as I notice in certain circles the phrase “go awake, go broke” the band stays around…

I get different responses from people in relation to the work I do, which is focused on achieving equality in the blockchain and Web 3 space. I do this through two initiatives, The Bigger Pie and The200BnClub.

To clarify, equality for me is about changing the ecosystem so that the smart, talented, capable women are no longer overlooked, underpaid, underfunded and underserved in their professional world, not only to their own detriment, but to the detriment of the business and ecosystem that totality.

We can extend this further to include all forms of discrimination, and the statistics support widespread experiences that, depending on age, gender, background, sexuality, ethnicity, etc. (also known as intersectionality), can be overlooked. Unless you follow a certain template, chances are you won’t be judged in the same light as others. This is not new news, but we are not doing enough to correct the errors and biases in our systems, and it is hurting us.

Not surprisingly, when I meet women, their response to my work is to say “thank you so much, this work is really necessary”.

Some women prefer to be able to just do their job, continue with their profession, excel by leveraging their expertise and stay out of the “women in…” conversation altogether. I absolutely respect these women, and if you stand up, do your job well, and keep the doors open behind you for the next generation, I’m all in.

If I’m being honest, that’s the world I want to live in. But it’s not our current reality.

Men’s responses tend to vary greatly. I’m lucky that the majority of people I interact with are already aligned with my work, so they’re usually positive, but it’s clear that the vast majority of men don’t understand what women face on a daily basis. As a man, it is difficult to understand without direct lived experience of these issues. What it reveals is the lack of knowledge and awareness of exactly how hostile the Web 3 environment can be for women.

New research shows that almost 90 percent of women worldwide are punished and undermined because of their performance at work. With “tall poppy syndrome”, the phenomenon occurs when people – especially women, in this context – are attacked, resented, disliked, criticized or cut down because of their achievements and/or success.

Men often struggle to understand why women have to play the “sympathy card” and can’t just “get on with the job”. I would encourage you to do some research to show why that is not what is happening. My favorite book, which cites pages and pages of researched data, is What Works: Gender Equality by Design, by Iris Bohnet. Check it out.

A recently published study from the Vienna University of Economics and Business concludes that tech investors are more likely to back male founders than female counterparts because of their own biases and the popular perception that top tech tycoons are all young white men. It spurs me on to take greater action.

Despite the different responses to my work and equality work in general, all the data points show a world that is far from close to achieving equality at all levels, and that we are paying for it, economically, socially, with our health, and our planet . And it’s something I can’t just stand back and watch.

I can’t just watch women (who make up more than half of our global population) get bullied again as we enter a new wave of technology, another generational transfer of wealth and a potential chance to change the way we interact. Is this our last chance to choose where value can flow to and from, to democratize and decentralize flawed systems so that everyone can be better served?

Companies with a greater proportion of women in leadership roles tend to be more profitable. First, diverse teams are more innovative and better able to solve complex problems, and better able to understand and serve their customers, as they are more representative of the wider population and can provide a wider range of perspectives on a situation .

Other research has shown that in these times of global uncertainty, it is feminine leadership qualities that perform best. We cannot deny that we are in a time of global uncertainty. That’s why I think now is the right time to have this conversation.

To those who lead the charge in Web 3 as builders and founders, to those in C-Suite and senior leadership roles, DAOs and other organizations, who help shape policies and practices that build a fairer future – do you know what the roadmap looks like? Do we know what a fair future looks like in Web3? Not just for equality, but for everyone? The answer is no, not yet.

If it was just a matter of education, training and employment for DEI then; 1) organizations can only do this themselves, and; 2) attracting and retaining diverse talent would be easy to solve.

So what is the answer?

Back in 2021, I started talking with Karin Bauer PHD at UC Berkeley about potential solutions to these challenges. We conceptualized A DEIB in the Web 3 Playbook, a resource for organizational leaders in the Web 3 space to learn about and improve diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB) in their organizations.

This playbook provides concrete guidance for promoting DEIB, and acts as a bridge between academia and industry. It is an opportunity to connect all DEIB-focused resources, research, activities, community, access to talent and much more. It is intended to be a useful resource and tool that will highlight a path forward for Web 3 that centers equity and inclusion.

It’s a chance for people to share their day-to-day experiences, where behaviors and biases play a negative role, so that we can all recognize the importance of this work and make much of the unseen visible.

I am happy to say that work on the playbook has already begun to build with the first part of the work provided by UC Berkeley and Ripple, who are founding sponsors of the playbook. Now is the time to invite the wider Web3 ecosystem to get involved.

It is an ever-evolving resource that includes:

• Dedicated website and portal
• Steering group
• Playbook DAO for those who shape and guide playbook inc. Key Industry Leaders
• SaaS model implementation of Playbook
• Data collection and reporting. Digital dashboard

The Gender Index organisation, which is responsible for providing Alison Rose with the data she needs to compile the Rose Report and update it each year, has agreed to work with us and will provide the data collection and reporting. This is a great start, but we need everyone on board.

Foundations, Layer 1s, 2s, 3s and 4s, builders, founders, co-founders, investors, angels, corporates, communities, DAOs, academia, startups, growth companies, governments, educators… you name it – we want to see you all there.

If you share our vision and want to be part of the solution to build mass adoption in Web 3, to build a sustainable, profitable and more distributed ecosystem. Sign up here.