As COVID-19 continues to affect lives and livelihoods around the world, we can already observe its regressive effect on gender equality. According to a report from Mckinsey, women make up 39% of global employment but account for 54% of overall job losses. One reason for this greater effect on women is that the virus is significantly increasing the burden of unpaid care, which is disproportionately carried by women.
Against that backdrop, I wish to talk about how Web 3 is putting resources back into women’s hands. As Partnerships Lead at WOW Pixies NFT, I have encountered many builders, innovators and developers who are changing that narrative. Let me spotlight these women-led projects with a social impact focus:
Abortion Rights
Project: Computer Cowgirls
On June 24, The US Supreme Court voted to overturn abortion rights. This means women who need the procedure will now have to incur huge costs to travel out of state or risk going through unsafe processes.
Computer Cowgirls created a project to raise money for safe abortion access. All proceeds from the sale of its 10,000 unique NFTs collection are directed toward pro-choice organizations, prioritizing states with trigger laws.
Women-led Communities like HUG, pooled funds through Prysm to support the initiative. To date, over 38 ETH (USD 44,647) has been donated by the project.
Investment, Education and Opportunity Creation
Project: WOW Pixies
In 2021, less than 2% of venture capital funds went to women. In a similar vein, women make up just 15% of Crypto investors.
WOW Pixies started to close that gap. As the first decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to invest in women-led projects, the collective puts money back into women’s hands by investing in their projects.
Members who contribute to this work of picking out and researching can earn ether, plus enjoy perks that come with ownership of these invested projects. These include Education resources from Curious Addys, and loaning NFTs for specific projects to experiment with the crypto space without having to go through it alone.
Maternal Health and Neonatal Care
Project: Go Milky
An estimated 15 million babies are born too early every year. Parents who have premature babies often experience great distress as the babies stay in the newborn intensive care unit for weeks.
Go Milky was set up to raise awareness for premature babies and maternal health on behalf of non-profit organization with a focus on pregnancy care, March of Dimes.
The project brings together a network of community and resources for mothers. For instance, proceeds go towards purchasing access to educational resources for the community and bringing on a registered nurse as a healthcare advisor.
In the Web 3 space where the speed of growth and technology is evolving every day, there is so much potential for equitable opportunities and redistributed wealth.
To the extent that these projects are materially changing the lives of women, explicit references to feminism may not really matter. At the end of the day, actions speak louder than words and these women are just getting started.
This article is part of the Social Impact column by the Social Impact subcommittee that focuses on social causes concerning women and children. Click here to learn more about the subcommittee and its initiatives.
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Author: Litong Tan