Finance’s next frontier is leaving women behind

This is Working Together, a weekly series on professional women and equity in the workplace. Have ideas about what we should discuss next week? Let me know in the comments using #WorkingTogether or email me at [email protected] .?

The world of finance is embarking on a crypto revolution, and women are falling behind.?

Women comprised less than a third of net crypto hires as of 2021 and that share is on the decline: The proportion of female crypto hires decreased 7 percentage points between 2019 and 2021.?

[Check out LinkedIn’s Full 2022 Cryptocurrency Special Report here .]

LinkedIn defines a “cryptocurrency hire” as any LinkedIn member who started a position containing terms like blockchain, crypto, bitcoin, Web3 and more. And while women are in the minority among new hires in finance overall — accounting for 43% of net finance hires from 2018 to 2021 — the gender hiring gap is even wider in crypto.?

LinkedIn’s data is just the latest in a steady stream of reports that point to women’s slow entry into the crypto world. Some 16% of Americans say they have invested in cryptocurrency, according to a 2021 survey from Pew Research . That pool of investors includes twice as many men as women .?

This participation gap extends to younger investors, a cohort that is typically more willing to move into newer investment categories. About 19% of women ages 18 to 29 say they have invested in, traded or used a cryptocurrency, compared with 43% of men in the same age range.

And the investment gender gap is even wider when you zoom out to the larger industry of Web3, a term used to describe the next generation of the Internet based on blockchain technology. By some estimates, women comprise only 19% of participants — those investing or creating — in Web3, an ecosystem that is projected to grow into a $10 trillion market over the next five years.?

Over 5,000 LinkedIn members started a cryptocurrency position in 2021, a 73% increase from 2019. Why are more men then women taking jobs in this emerging field? Nicole Kyle , a LinkedIn Top Voice in Gender Equity who focuses much of her content on educating women about crypto and Web3, points to a well-known pattern-matching challenge across finance. If more men are leading Web3 and crypto projects and more men are investing in the space, that’s going to lead to hiring managers valuing the “prior experience” or a mostly male talent pool.?

“The funnel is biased toward men from the outset,” she wrote. “Passion, willingness to learn, critical thinking, communication and collaboration are the most important attributes for many roles, and one doesn't need prior dev or crypto experience.”?

I recently polled my followers and asked them if they would consider a career in crypto or Web3. And I found something surprising: Out of nearly 500 respondents, nearly a third identified as female and said yes, they would consider a career switch into this growing field. That said, 43% of respondents said they wouldn’t consider it at this time.?

“I have been working in this space since 2017,” wrote Web3 founder Kelsey Cole . “It's getting to be much more appealing for women, but we still have a long way to go.”

Let’s talk about it live: On April 21st, we’re speaking with Randi Zuckerberg , founder of NFT community HUG, about the persistent gender gap plaguing investment in both cryptocurrency as well as Web3. [Join us here ]?

What’s Working

‘It's not a character flaw; it's a difference.’ Ludmila Praslova, a Vanguard University psychology professor who spent her career studying how to make workplaces more accommodating to people with differences, believes neurodiversity is missing from key discussions on DE&I. She shares with my colleague Jessi Hempel on our podcast Hello Monday why that needs to change. [LinkedIn News ]?

Guaranteed leave. Colorado is close to becoming the first state to guarantee 12 weeks of paid parental leave for lawmakers. The bill, which would be the first of its kind and the most generous leave package for lawmakers nationwide, would offer an additional four weeks for those who experience pregnancy or childbirth complications. [The19th ] ?

‘Not only about the pay.’ Venus Williams, who fought for women and men to earn equal pay at Wimbledon, reflected on her efforts to provide more opportunities for female athletes. “When we have opportunities, we're able to contribute to our families, our communities, our lives. When women don't have those opportunities, the community suffers,” she said. [Fortune ]

What’s Not

Stress soars. A survey of 10,000 global workers by Slack’s Future Forum revealed that stress and anxiety has hit its highest levels since summer 2020. Inflexible return-to-office policies are mostly to blame. [Future Forum ]?

Tracking caregivers. Although research suggests that 73% of employees have some kind of caregiving responsibility, employers rarely keep track of this. This could be resulting in a loss of $35 billion annually over a failure to attract, support and retain caregiving workers. [HBR ]

Working Together LIVE: Thursdays, 3ET

On April 28th, authors Anne Morriss and Frances Frei join us to discuss their new book, The Unapologetic Leader's Guide to Empowering Everyone Around You. It’s all about why leadership isn’t about you, it’s about everyone else. [Join us here ]

What topics do you want to discuss next time? Let me know in the comments below using #WorkingTogether