When James Brown, ’The Godfather of Soul’ performed his song, ‘It's a Man's Man's Man's World’ he was describing a world where men were in control of just about everything. The verses list the many accomplishments of men, while the chorus advises that, “But it wouldn't be nothing, without a woman or a girl.” So apparently way back then the role of a woman was to support her man by standing around witnessing his great acts (and presumably supplying dinner and other comforts at the end of the day). Has very much changed?
According to the Harvard Business Review, Facebook, Google, and Apple have respectively 17%, 19%, and 23% women in their technology staffs. That’s clearly not representative of the general population. As Laura Dixon and Teresa Correa observe in their article in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, “One of the most enduring technological inequalities is the gender divide. Research has detailed a variety of ways in which women lag behind men in the ownership of technology and the development of technological skills. For example, men own and use computers and the Internet more than women, spend more time online, take more technology classes, and show more motivation to learn digital skills. Closing the gender gap equals greater inclusion and more markets.”
Well yes, and fo’ sho, but what exactly has this got to do with our cryptoworld? An awful lot actually, because the brave new world of crypto is exactly mirroring the sad old world of conventional finance, and the whole Internet-as-a-men’s-club approach. The crypto initiatives founded by women can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and if an ICO features female team members at all, the chances are they are well down the pecking order, and are probably looking after an aspect of marketing, or customer relationships. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it does rather conform to the ‘caring and sharing’ stereotype.
Even the design of ICO websites tends towards the tough, overtly ‘male’ look, and the language used is often about making crushing offers or the domination of markets. You might laugh at this and ask, ‘So you want us to have nice hearts-and-flowers graphics on our websites?’ Of course the look and the language of coin offerings must be appropriate to the product or service being offered, but surely the approach can be widened, with a more conscious eye towards the involvement and attraction of half of the world’s population. In fact worldwide the ratio between men and women is shifting in the favor of females, and especially in the high income bracket. By the way, that’s where the potential investors hang out.
One thing you will see when you examine many whitepapers is that the founders and their team are often quite international, with typically three or four different countries represented, resident in many geographies and time zones. This is a great sign of a healthy, truly global industry, so clearly the process of creating ICOs and STOs can be a cross-border one (even if some borders are actually closed to trading). So when will we see some true cross-border initiatives across the gender divide? If we’re all as smart and of-the-moment as we like to think, we really should have the cojones to encourage an end to this particular Man’s Man’s Man’s World.
The tech gender divide
According to the Harvard Business Review, Facebook, Google, and Apple have respectively 17%, 19%, and 23% women in their technology staffs. That’s clearly not representative of the general population. As Laura Dixon and Teresa Correa observe in their article in the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, “One of the most enduring technological inequalities is the gender divide. Research has detailed a variety of ways in which women lag behind men in the ownership of technology and the development of technological skills. For example, men own and use computers and the Internet more than women, spend more time online, take more technology classes, and show more motivation to learn digital skills. Closing the gender gap equals greater inclusion and more markets.”
Well yes, and fo’ sho, but what exactly has this got to do with our cryptoworld? An awful lot actually, because the brave new world of crypto is exactly mirroring the sad old world of conventional finance, and the whole Internet-as-a-men’s-club approach. The crypto initiatives founded by women can be counted on the fingers of one hand, and if an ICO features female team members at all, the chances are they are well down the pecking order, and are probably looking after an aspect of marketing, or customer relationships. Nothing wrong with that of course, but it does rather conform to the ‘caring and sharing’ stereotype.
Even the design of ICO websites tends towards the tough, overtly ‘male’ look, and the language used is often about making crushing offers or the domination of markets. You might laugh at this and ask, ‘So you want us to have nice hearts-and-flowers graphics on our websites?’ Of course the look and the language of coin offerings must be appropriate to the product or service being offered, but surely the approach can be widened, with a more conscious eye towards the involvement and attraction of half of the world’s population. In fact worldwide the ratio between men and women is shifting in the favor of females, and especially in the high income bracket. By the way, that’s where the potential investors hang out.
It's time to bridge the divide
One thing you will see when you examine many whitepapers is that the founders and their team are often quite international, with typically three or four different countries represented, resident in many geographies and time zones. This is a great sign of a healthy, truly global industry, so clearly the process of creating ICOs and STOs can be a cross-border one (even if some borders are actually closed to trading). So when will we see some true cross-border initiatives across the gender divide? If we’re all as smart and of-the-moment as we like to think, we really should have the cojones to encourage an end to this particular Man’s Man’s Man’s World.