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Calling all Women: An Invitation to the Metaverse
It’s been a year since I originally wrote this article “International Women’s Day: Metaverse needs to be made safer, with an urgency” — which is a statement assessing the state of the Metaverse and women in 2022 (also see below for full article).
A lot has happened in the past 365 days in the Metaverse sector, trillions have been invested and the world continues to have a turbulent but thrilling ride on the journey towards the full vision of the Metaverse and its potential for the future.
But one thing remains the same:
Women are vastly underrepresented among founders and investors in the web3 and Metaverse space. We are at risk of continuing to build a 3D virtual world that replicates, instead of countering, the same biases that plague the physical and 2D digital world.
We need to act now with urgency and determination to shape immersive technology for the future of our entire society, but especially for women and future generations.
Here are the cold hard facts:
According to the study titled “Web3 Already Has a Gender Diversity Problem,” the gender gap is substantial in funding for Web3.
The study analyzed the gender diversity of founders and investors using a database from Crunchbase consisting of nearly 2,800 participants, published by BCG X, the tech build and design unit of Boston Consulting Group (BCG), and People of Crypto Lab, a creative and innovation studio that aims to boost diversity, equity, and inclusion in the Web3 ecosystem.
We can not underestimate the impact of the Metaverse as we begin to integrate it into our lives. We need women to be part of its creation. Safety in digital spaces has been a problem since day one — rife with hate, violence, aggression, misogyny and racism. Currently, Meta, Microsoft, TikTok, Roblox, Minecraft, Fortnite, and other gaming platforms (also known as the current state of the Metaverse), are…
