Until recent times, the world of finance has been dominated by men. From the job market to investments, women historically have been excluded from participating in opportunities in which their male counterparts have been given free reign. In 2019, only six of the 107 largest financial institutions were run by women in the US. Women have also historically invested less, retired with less, and according to a CNBC/Survey Monkey Women at Work survey, 1 in 5 women retire with no savings at all. Women also make up around around 55% of the unbanked,
While this gender gap has dominated the financial sector for a long time, blockchain and the DeFi movement are helping level the playing field for women worldwide, with equal access to educational and investment opportunities. DeFi makes these financial services easier for women to access.
As the history book turns another page, the DeFi movement is making strides to put the power of finances back into the hands of its people. With ready access to financial services, women from all backgrounds and locations are taking advantage of cryptocurrency to not only learn the skills necessary to invest in cryptocurrency, but also work towards building the technology behind it. Since blockchain technology is widely open-sourced, anyone who seeks to understand it can learn without limitations, regardless of gender. There have never been more opportunities for women within legacy financial sectors.
Like the traditional finance space, the crypto space has been male-dominated. However, we are currently seeing a shift as more women realize their potential to implement meaningful change. According to Nikita Sachdev in a recent Cryptonized interview, “In 2017, [the gender gap in blockchain] was a lot more intense. There were way fewer... women in the space than there are now. I remember giving a speech in Dubai actually, in 2018… and I had said that only 5% of Bitcoin holders were women. So I'm sure that's changed dramatically today. So I don't really segregate the space too much anymore.”When you go to conferences, [there’s] not a panel of four men, at least you have one woman sitting there.”
Robinhood, a DeFi trading app, witnessed a seven-fold increase of women trading crypto on its platform in March of this year, compared to the end of 2021.
In another example, Nikita Sachdev is also setting the benchmark with Luna PR and Marketing, a female-owned and exclusively female-staffed crypto marketing farm. Her business is setting the tone for a sustained rise in female thought leaders, specifically in the blockchain and crypto space.
Buckle your seatbelt and watch the transformation unfold, where women around the world can finally take control of their finances in a way never done before with the help of blockchain technology!