Sorry Crypto Bros, Women in Crypto Earn 15% More Than Men... But is There a Catch?
We live in a time when gender and equality are at the forefront of conversation and political discourse. It doesn't take a feminist to understand the importance of creating a safe and fair environment for women to work in. But turning this message into reality has been a societal challenge, especially in breaking away from deeply rooted constructs that only serve as advantages for men. Damn that patriarchy.
Just look at the US, which is currently weighing up whether to elect its first female president to lead the free world down an unfamiliar and radical liberal path (if you read Fox), or to re-elect an uncomfortably familiar traditionalist to lead America down four more years of antiquated boys' school misogyny (if you read CNN, which also happens to love Bitcoin).
Crypt-Bros
Speaking of boys, misogyny, and sexism, the reputation of crypto bros doesn't exactly fare well in the fight against patriarchal injustice.
From testosterone-fueled adverts starring Matt Damon to spraying their seed all over sports sponsorships, the crypto world has proudly built itself on bro culture.
According to Triple-A, only 39% of crypto holders are women. It's hard to quantify why crypto appeals more to men but crypto bro culture certainly reinforces a safe haven for boys to be boys.
However, there are far more decadent levels of male toxicity than crypto bros. At least they're not gangsters, or worse still, ACS boys.
Girls Just Wanna Earn More
However, despite crypto bro tendencies to flex their APs, new data from Pantera Research Lab suggests that women in crypto actually earn 15% more than men in the US.
The median salary of full-time working women in the US crypto industry is $172,000, while men earn $150,000.
“Our analysis finds that gender wage differentials among crypto employees are the reverse of what is normally observed,” Pantera researchers Matt Stephenson, Ally Zach and Nick Zurck explained.
This equates to women earning $1.15 for every dollar earned by men. In non-crypto roles, women earn $0.84 for every dollar earned by a man.
“The relatively fair wages in crypto suggest a move toward greater gender equity, marking a progressive trend in this fairly new field,” Pantera said.
The research firm suggested that this "reversed" wage gap could stem from women being more experienced and finding themselves in mid-level to senior positions with longer time spans.
"In contrast, a larger proportion of men occupy entry-level positions as they transition into the crypto industry," Pantera said.
Always Listen to Women
Because we're not bigoted blockheads here at Blockhead, we thought it'd be best to hear the voices of women on the issue of gender imbalance in crypto. After years of relationship experience at home, we've also learned that listening to our female counterparts is integral to the foundation of any relationship... or just survival in general. And after presenting the findings to our female allies in the space, we too, unsurprisingly learned a thing or two.
Rebecca Poon, who has established a formidable career as a client solutions director across various crypto companies, said women are increasingly earning what they deserve.
"There is a growing awareness of gender equality around the world, and many companies are valuing and implementing fairer and more transparent pay structure," Poon said to Blockhead. "This results in women receiving compensation that accurately reflects their contributions and skills, ultimately building a positive brand image for these companies."
"Naturally, women often dedicate substantial time to researching and understanding the details before committing to decisions. Many come from strong backgrounds in finance and technology, where their skills are highly valued," Poon highlighted.
In her specific field of client relationships, Poon said women simply possess a better skillset. "I think a big part of it is that women are known for building strong support networks and collaborating effectively. In the fast-growing crypto space, where networking and developing partnerships are crucial, these skills are highly valued and can command higher salaries."
Belinda Lim, Singapore country manager at The Sandbox, said the skillset of women entering the crypto industry appears to be far stronger.
"The smaller number of women in crypto is usually made up of really capable women who choose this industry. It's natural selection to fight in an arena dominated by guys and more entry-level jobs are filled with guys," Lim said. "The comparison just doesn't sound right, it's like comparing apples and oranges."
Learning that women earn more than men in crypto came as a shock to a senior industry professional who specialises in crypto communications and marketing.
"I'm really surprised to hear that," said a crypto senior marketing lead, who wishes to remain anonymous. "I can see that the crypto space is still super male-dominated, especially at the C-suite and founder level, at least here in Asia. You attend any crypto event or Web3 workshop and it feels like it's 95% male."
Like Lim, the marketing specialist said this could be "because a lot of the junior or entry level are male and they drag down the average salary for men."
"Perhaps women are joining the industry at mid to senior-level roles," she suggested.
Katashe founder (and former "Tezos Lady"), Katherine Ng, was also "very, very surprised" to learn that women earn more than men.
"When it comes to experience in crypto, those who take bold action and take on higher risk earlier in the space have the opportunity to reap higher rewards, whether man or woman," she said.
"I was fortunate to benefit from the Bitcoin boom, despite not going all-in due to my risk-averse profile. However, my strong belief in tech innovation led me to allocate 1-2% of my wealth to crypto, which has yielded the highest returns in my investment portfolio since I entered the space in 2016/7."
"I try not to focus on the negativity of the imbalance and more on building sustainable businesses I'm passionate about, and advocate for the change I want to see. In my hiring practices, I prioritize a DEI-first [diversity, equity, and inclusion first] approach to ensure gender balance in the teams I build."
"I firmly believe in equal pay for equal work, regardless of gender. My policy is to compensate individuals based on their skillset and performance, without bias. This approach has helped me build strong, diverse teams that drive innovation and success."
Ng also pointed out that "Asia still has a way to go in catching up" and brought our attention to data that shows on average, "women in Southeast Asia earn between 30% and 40% less than men.
Additionally, the average gender pay gap in Asia is 15% according to a study. Mature markets like Australia and New Zealand have a higher gap of 19.3%, which is higher than the global average of 16.1%.
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