Women in Tech: Breaking barriers to blockchain adoption

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We need more innovation in future tech, and fostering diversity, especially in the startup space, will help move us toward mass adoption. The good news is that steps are being taken to encourage more females into the male-dominated tech world. For example, the United Kingdom hosted its first “Women in Tech Week” from October 7-11, a week of in-person and virtual educational programs.

Many female founders are keen to incorporate future tech, such as blockchain, into their startups, but they often do not know why they need to incorporate it or even where to start. This is why educational sessions like those offered during Women in Tech Week are essential.

“When you say blockchain, the first thing that comes to mind for anyone is probably cryptocurrency, NFTs and that’s probably the extent of it, but it’s a wide range of super interesting topics that most people actually don’t think of when we say blockchain,” Sev Gunes-Lasnet, CEO and Founder of startup MyCFO.ai, shared with CoinGeek.

“I think sessions are super interesting, so they just expand your field of view or your brain map on what’s under blockchain. And I think that that’s super easy to do, and that’s probably the first step,” she added.

Females are still underrepresented in the tech world despite ongoing efforts to bring more women into the space, but we are seeing an increased interest in blockchain, which is a big step in the right direction.

“Women are not well represented in the tech industry. I think with the blockchain industry, that is changing, and we want more women participation. We want everyone’s participation in this new technology,” said Vatsavaye Priyatham Varma, an in-house blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) expert at Block Dojo.

“I think women are showing a lot of interest in this new technology because they can say, okay, this is a potential technology where we can prove ourselves in the tech field. So I think women are the best people to learn this technology and implement that in their business ideas,” he added.

Varma represents Block Dojo, a global venture builder focusing on leveraging blockchain and other future tech. To educate more female founders on the competitive edge that blockchain can bring to their startups, the London Block Dojo branch took part in the U.K.’s Women in Tech Week by hosting an evening of Blockchain Building 101 Session led by Varma.

“We are running a skills session. It’s on blockchain building, so it’s an interactive game to introduce people to blockchain technology, how to build in the space, because that’s the complicated bit and then understand some kind of use cases for how they can apply that in the real world,” explained Cait Pilkington, the Block Dojo’s Dealflow Manager and organizer of the night.

The session attracted a wide range of females, from recent graduates to finance professionals to startup founders to social media specialists, who were ready to learn the blockchain basics.

“I think it’s really important to do the masterclasses, workshops where you can get some knowledge just in an instant so you don’t have to go through lots of barriers to get to that knowledge,” shared Yulia Zhivetyeva, one of the participants of the night.

“I think that it’s really important to have weeks like these, events like this yearly, and to spread the word as well so that these things are happening and so that more women will have access to technology and to this knowledge,” she added.

The Dojo’s Pilkington is a big believer in the power of diversity to bring more innovation to blockchain and tech in general, which is one of the reasons why she jumped on the opportunity to support U.K. Women in Tech Week.

“I think lots of the technology is amazing, but you need the diversity of thought behind it to open up some new ideas, some new innovation,” she said. “And that little spark that might happen during a session like tonight.  It could be something that is the next unicorn in a few years, so opening up that opportunity to women is maybe what’s going to cause that innovation.”

Watch Women in Blockchain Panel: Highlighting need for more diversity in blockchain space