Why are blockchain, Web3 still male dominated industries?
A recent Boston Consulting Group (BCG) study found that 13% of Web3 founding teams include a female member. However, female founders of Web3 companies are at a staggeringly low 7%.
Web3 blockchain technology is estimated to be a $6 trillion industry by 2023, with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44.6% by 2030. Clearly, the world sees potential in this industry, as reported by Analytics Insights. And yet Web3 appears to be a male-dominated segment.
The question is: how far will nations advance in encouraging women’s empowerment via blockchain and Web3? Here’s what the statistics suggest.
Apparently, men raise more money than female founders
The BCG report specified potential reasons for such a large gender gap. Surprisingly, the main reason was capital. Apparently, Web3 startups founded by men raised more capital compared to mixed and sole female founders.
Thus, the average funding capacity for all three categories is:
- All Men: $29.2 million
- Mixed team: $26 million
- All-Women’s Team: $7.8 million
If this is the case with entrepreneurs, is the gender gap better or worse among investment teams?
The study stated that only 15% of Web3 investment teams are women. Moreover, 6 of the 10 major financing entities in the industry do not even have a female partner.
These figures raise another question – are women more present in mixed or single-sex teams?
Calculations for mixed layers
According to the figures mentioned earlier, teams consisting of both female and male members also have a relatively good capacity to raise capital in Web3 startups. While positive, it reveals another problem.
The report indicated that in 78% of cases, female founders of Web3 startups are present in mixed teams, but the same is not present in the case of male founders.
In fact, it’s the exact opposite. There is a 74% chance that a male founder is not part of a mixed setup. However, for the sake of representation, including a woman in an all-male team cannot be termed “mixed”. Nor is it the right kind of women’s empowerment. Rather, it can only smack of symbolic representation.
However, the more relevant question to ask is what could be the reason behind this large gender gap in the Web3 industry? Some say the reason has more to do with women’s investment behavior. Others blame the current use cases of blockchain and Web3 technology.
Digital currency: second most prevalent asset among women
Latest data from eToro and highlighted by Cointelegraph points to a surprising fact – digital currency is currently the second most widely held asset among women, especially in the 18-34 age group. However, cash remains the leading asset.
These statistics are part of eToro’s latest Retail Investor Beat initiative, which surveyed 10,000 retail investors spread across 13 countries.
Survey data shows that digital currency ownership among women has been on a steady increase over the last four quarters of FY2022.
- Q1: 24%
- Q2: 25%
- Q3: 29%
- Q4: 34%
From this increased usage, it is safe to assume two things – a, women have become more interested in digital assets such as digital currency, non-fungible tokens (NFT), etc., and b, their understanding and awareness of blockchain technology is also on the rise . This is a clear indication that women’s investment behavior is developing.
Now let’s consider the question of use cases.
Current use cases limited to gaming
The BCG report states: “If you take the gaming industry and the immersive gaming industry as a proxy for what the metaverse might become, the experiences offered in the metaverse will be very gender stereotypical.”
Currently, several use cases of metaverse, blockchain and Web3 are being tried and tested. But those about games have gained the most traction.
Undoubtedly, a significant part of women are interested in games. But these use cases mostly attract the male gender and signal no female-centric utility. If this situation improves, more women can climb the wave of Web3 technology.
This suggestion can be added to make a trifecta—more awareness, opportunities and role models.
See: Web3 and BSV Blockchain
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