NFTs liberate imagination: The gender gap that needs to be addressed

Published at: March 16, 2022

Nonfungible tokens (NFTs) have received a lot of media attention, but experts agree that their impact will go beyond selling digital artwork or tweets and alter how people communicate ideas forever.

Despite its promise of shattering the mold, the worldwide NFT market is just as pale, male and old-fashioned as the conventional art industry. The most recent statistics indicate only 16% of NFT creators are women — a startling gender disparity that reflects the underrepresentation of women in today's NFT ecosystem.

According to a survey conducted by Art Tactic and published by Bloomberg, female artists accounted for only 5% of sales in the NFT market. In comparison, male artist creations made up 77% of sales (16% were unknown artists, and 2% were collectively created).

However, specific NFT projects are attempting to overcome the issue. Rarible is one of them. Rarible has prioritized supporting female-led NFT projects. Cointelegraph spoke with industry experts Masha Vyazemskaya, the Head of Communications at Rarible, and Rebekah Keida, Chief Marketing Officer at XBTO, about the gender disparity in the NFT space.

According to Vyazemskaya, the technology sector has always been a male-dominated one, which she believes "fosters a sense of intimidation for many women who want to enter the NFT space." She adds:

"As the industry continues to mature, it is important that we champion our female artists and innovators, promoting and encouraging their work and giving them greater opportunity to shape the future of the industry."

She describes the challenges faced by female creators when they first enter the NFT sector as based on "the broader technology industry." According to her, "the traditional technology industry has historically always catered towards male ambitions and success, creating a misguided expectation that tech is primarily for men."

Awareness, according to Vyazemskaya, is a crucial first step in encouraging more women to get involved in the NFT industry. As she puts it, by championing successful female creators and women-led initiatives, we establish a precedent for future generations of innovators that the NFT sector is a "community for women."

According to XBTO's Rebekah Keida, two important measures for increasing the number of women involved in the NFT and Web3 spaces are "enrolling more people in cryptocurrency education and fostering a greater sense of inclusion."

"Truthfully, this industry is still so young and snowballing, so no one is truly an 'expert.' We are all learning together. The more we can promote this concept of inclusivity, the more welcoming the space will become to new crypto users and women looking to get involved."

What would they advise any lady considering a career in the NFT sector? Vyazemskaya suggested that it's a good idea to get started interacting with other creators and collectors as soon as possible.

The NFT community, according to her, is one of the "most supportive," and much of really valuable communication and interaction occurs on social media and internet marketplaces like Rarible.

Keida, on the other hand, advised that while it appears to be easy to start, simply start. She adds, "do your research." She considers one-on-one conversations, whether via Twitter or Discord, extremely valuable. The media's typical coverage of NFT investment stories is optimistic - either a spectacular success or a catastrophic failure.

"When you reach out and start building individual connections, you realize there is so much more insight to gather."