Fertile land and ripe opportunities. We’re not talking about a utopic piece of land but about the world of blockchains.

Built on blockchain technologies and integrating crypto economies, Web3 is building a more decentralised, open, and utile version of the World Wide Web. Still in its infancy, we haven’t even scratched the surface of how this gamut of revolutionary technologies can transform our lives. It is inevitable that higher user experience demands, coupled with the gradual adoption of blockchain technologies, will bring in more innovative use-cases and of course, need more people.

But then come gender diversity issues. Those aren’t new in the blockchain space and the cryptocurrency industry, neither are we the first ones nor are we the only ones to talk about it. As the table grows longer, women should be taking more seats to tap into the immense career opportunities and economic growth at hand. But alas…

Industry of the future with problems of the past

Economic freedom in Web3 will be powered by crypto, an industry that is at the cusp of and was born from two male-dominated industries — finance, and technology.

A “Women’s story in the cryptosphere” survey by BDC Consulting established that whilst 35.4% of the respondents worked in the crypto industry, only 15.7% got involved in crypto through their main job as most (36.7%) entered the market through inspiration by friends or colleagues.

In 2019, as cryptocurrency ownership had nearly doubled from the previous year to a considerable 14% in the US, the country’s male population owning crypto equalled 19% of men whilst the rate stood at only one out of every 10 women. Two years later, Pew Research confirmed that the figure remained the same for American women whilst the percentage of American men engaged with crypto rose by three points.

For Bitcoin in particular, women contribute to only 21% of all investments despite stats shared by Buy Bitcoin Worldwide stating that more than 70% of women have heard about the Satoshi Nakamoto-pioneered currency.

So how did an industry as young as Crypto carry a 20th-century gender gap problem into the 21st century? How did it become an overwhelmingly male space? Is it because it is the fruit of the union between two male-dominated industries? Or is it because we never really thought about this problem as we were busy moving fast and breaking things?

We may not have all the answers to this question, but we can contribute — in our own way as an organisation striving for equality and diversity — to encourage more women to take a seat at the widening table.

At Chorus One, our aim is to provide women with the needed support and resources in their exploration of the Web3 field. It is a valid dream, a valid target, and a valid goal to accomplish.

Presenting Equal3, Chorus One’s response to help reduce the gender gap in crypto

Be it as users, workers, or founders, women are greatly under-represented in the blockchain industry. In a humble quest to help change the reality through Equal3, Chorus One aims to:

• Upskill women with the right resources to enter and thrive in Web3
• Provide scholarships and courses to underprivileged women
• Create more job opportunities — at the company and elsewhere — for women in Web3
• Help remove economic barriers by championing equal pay and encouraging women to become crypto investors

Thus far, Chorus One has provided 23 scholarships worth $53K across three different cohorts. In 2022, we sponsored 10 students from DappCamp, an Ethereum focussed bootcamp, with the objective to support aspiring women engineers. We’ve already hired two of them full-time at our company: Full-stack Engineer Maria Varvaroi, and Research Analyst Thalita Franklin.

WATCH: Female founder Preethi Kasireddy takes Chorus One CEO and Epicenter Podcast host Brian Crain on a deep dive into 21-day cohort-based Web3 course, DappCamp.

On the road to enabling a more gender-equal world in the blockchain industry, our mission is backed by humble goals. Among those, we aim to:

• Provide up to 50 scholarships in the next 12 months
• Create regular mentorship opportunities for budding web3 talent with the Chorus One team
• Improve the gender balance at Chorus One

And there is so much more in the pipeline — hackathons and podcasts, among other initiatives. We aim to invest up to $150,000 in the next 12 months in lieu of this initiative and we look forward to collaborating with like-minded teams.

The well-being and representation of working women matter

Speaking about barriers for women in Tech, a survey conducted this year revealed that almost 50% of the female-only respondents felt “visible allies within a tech organisation would attract them when looking for a new role”.

In another report by Deloitte, 94% of the women respondents feared that their chances of getting promoted would be hurt by requesting flexible working arrangements. What’s worse, less than half feel at ease even discussing mental health issues at work.

At Chorus One, the well-being of our team is a top priority. Our fully-remote company culture enables team members to structure their own working hours and context with the maximum autonomy possible. With unlimited PTO, anyone on the team can take a break whenever they want and need.

We’ve also fostered a safe space to accommodate the company’s growing number of women and make it easier for new female recruits to familiarise themselves with staking and the blockchain industry. We are improving but we’re not done.

WATCH: Diversity is not just a buzzword at Chorus One.

With the rolling out of Equal3, we hope to inspire more organisations to introspect and contribute to changing gender inequality perceptions in the tech industry. Chorus One’s Equal3 programme sets out to welcome the women of today and assist them to become the builders of tomorrow’s improved Web3 and crypto ecosystems.