Women in Crypto: a welcoming community is a strong community
A mother put Greenheart CBD on the map.
Carlow mother of three, Rhona, said she was able to “get her little boy back” after CBD had eased his symptoms of autism. Through countless trials and by being a fierce advocate for her children, Rhona shared that she finally found something that worked. Her compassion and determination to her family brought her to Greenheart CBD, a producer of full-spectrum CBD oils that many other parents of children with autism swear by.
But how does this play into cryptocurrency?
Greenheart CBD introduced their token ecosystem and a plan to bring farmers out of poverty by providing them with the necessary training, equipment, and support to switch to hemp farming. Another use-case of the token for consumers became clear: they could use the token to purchase the company’s CBD products at a discount.
This put Greenheart CBD customers, many of which are mothers, in an interesting new position. Few had any experience with cryptocurrency and therefore were unprepared when invited to join a space where they had a tremendous amount to gain from.
The novelty and high demand of CBD has given it a steep price tag. Therefore, receiving a large discount was a lucrative prospect for those who purchase it in bulk for their children. Greenheart CBD quickly identified that many customers, particularly these mothers, were unaware of how cryptocurrency works — but not because they didn’t want to learn. They were just not a part of the cryptocurrency community before this.
Why are there so few women in the cryptocurrency community?
The absence of women in the cryptocurrency mainstream can be explained by the same issues that plague the tech and finance industries: gender discrimination and sexism.
From the frat boy culture leading them to be frozen out of the space or mistreated, to having to work harder than men for the same results, women must consistently “prove” themselves. Some are lucky to have the privilege to have their voice heard: but many others are not.
Perianne Boring, founder and president of Chamber of Digital Commerce, has spoken about bringing women into the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
“The Bitcoin industry has been punished for the lack of women,”
She told website Moneyish in December 2017.
“Women are naturally better communicators and on a mass scale, people don’t understand what Bitcoin is. The perception is skewed and it won’t be accepted as a legitimate technology unless we find a way to get this imbalance sorted.”
Boring makes a very strong point: if cryptocurrency is to survive and thrive, it needs women. A technology cannot be touted as the future if it doesn’t include everyone.
Rhona has shown us how powerful a woman’s voice can be for advocating. Fintech and cryptocurrency could benefit greatly from having more passionate voices like hers in it. Representation is key, and having women in visible positions is the first step to inspiring others to join the space.
Welcoming communities, such as Greenheart’s, need to become mainstream. There is no place for sexism and discrimination in the future.
We can ask ourselves: am I going to welcome the future, or am I going to be stuck in the past? It’s something we can all reflect on everyday, and not just on International Women’s Day.
