“Instead of questioning where we are, ask why more of us aren’t, and what can be done about it,” says HUG co-founder Debbie Soon in her recent PSA on changing the verbiage and tone when we describe women in Web3. 

Launched in early 2022 by Randi Zuckerberg and Debbie Soon, HUG is a social curation platform that supports aspiring founders and builders in Web3 through their native creator accelerator, HUG Studios, which also provides education and mentorship in helping people discover up-and-coming Web3 creators and communities. 

“We want to make it easier for emerging artists, regardless of background, to connect with collectors who love them – both new and existing! We are very intentional about creating safe spaces for artists from all walks of life, and highlighting different intersecting identities so that they can feel seen and represented, especially in a space as chaotic as Web3,” she told Hypemoon.

While there are plenty of women in Web3, Soon says there just isn’t enough, which is evident by the many NFT-centric events that are put on throughout the year. 

ETHDenver 2023 & NFT Paris 2023

With more than 20,000 attendees to this year’s ETHDenver, the world’s largest education and innovation festival hit a major milestone this year as its largest, most expensive production to date in its six-year history. 

ETHDenver’s steward, John Paller, told CoinDesk that ETHDenver 2023 is approximately $500,000 USD to $1 million USD in the black, which could provide for a potential distribution to its community-owned SporkDAO members. 

However, there seems to be a more pressing matter that begs the question of whether events like ETHDenver and NFT Paris, which experienced more than 10,000 attendees, are actually yielding genuine diversity and inclusivity that many of these organizers throughout Web3 regularly tout – or are these merely disguised forms of the same misogynistic mechanisms that seek to push women to the side, in favor of bringing men to the front of the line?

There is an undeniable truth that when it comes to recognizing and affording credence to the many brilliant women that spend a great deal of time at these events, that they are still looked upon as if they are there as a “+1” or to support their significant other who may be there to speak on stage or shilling their next great product. 

Last week, Betty of Deadfellaz took to Twitter, sharing her thoughts on this year’s ETHDenver:

“As cool as it was in Denver, it was also full of frustrating moments for me & my team. Most people assumed they were someone’s girlfriend and instead introduced themselves to the men in our group. My team is full of prolific and brilliant women and it’s a mistake to ignore them,” her tweet read. 

As cool as it was in Denver, it was also full of frustrating moments for me & my team. Most people assumed they were someone’s girlfriend and instead introduced themselves to the men in our group. My team is full of prolific and brilliant women and it’s a mistake to ignore them.

— BETTY (@betty_nft) March 6, 2023

Following the conclusion of NFT Paris last month, Soon also took to Twitter after coming across numerous tweets that went around asking questions along the lines of “where the female [were]” at NFTParis:

“To everyone questioning where the ‘females’ are in Web3, the first step to being inclusive is referring to us as women instead. If you wouldn’t refer to men as males in a similar sentence, please don’t do that to women either,” the initial tweet read. 

? PSA: Stop calling us females

To everyone questioning where the “females” are in Web3, the first step to being inclusive is referring to us as women instead.

If you wouldn’t refer to men as males in a similar sentence, please don’t do that to women either.

? 1/5

— DebbieSoon.eth ? (@debsoon) February 26, 2023

She continued with “[f]emale refers to a sex of any species (e.g. female duck), while ‘woman’ refers to human females. Reducing women to their reproductive abilities is also alienating to women who cannot reproduce, trans, and gender non-conforming people.”

She referenced two tweets in particular that sparked her series of tweets:

Where are the girls?

A short ?because it’s the bear market and the only thing we have is Twitter beef between nerds.

— Chill Pill ⁸ ? (@iamchillpill) February 26, 2023

Giving away 2 ETH to anyone that can spot a female at the @DeGodsNFT x @pudgypenguins party pic.twitter.com/I2wrgkt0Su

— Jeremiah (@JeremiahThinks) February 25, 2023

“I know the tweet pointing out the lack of women at an NFT event was meant in jest, but in my mind it is symptomatic of a larger problem – a lack of equitable representation in Web3,” Soon told Hypemoon. 

“If we keep talking about how Web3 is an opportunity to reimagine the future, there’s no reason why we should perpetuate the same failings of the past (<2% of VC funding goes towards women, despite startups with at least one woman founder outperforming).”

That being said, Soon also acknowledges that we are moving in the right direction and that there is greater attendance from women at these conferences compared to a couple of years ago.

She pointed to a Medium article titled “Woman vs. Female,” by Raven J. James, as a good illustration of why using the appropriate verbiage matters.

Soon says that we can definitely do better, but that requires “keeping an open mind about different perspectives” as a start. “I got so much vitriol from Internet anons from this tweet, when in reality, it costs 0 to understand where I’m coming from and why language is important in building inclusive spaces.”

Changing Our Current Course

As a start, we should collectively be investing in women-led startups, which are at the forefront at challenging the patriarchy and changing the ways in which we perceive innovation in today’s emerging tech landscape.

Soon also left us left us with three call-to-actions:

1. Stop using ‘female’ to describe women;
2. Instead of asking where women are in Web3, seek out the ones that are and make [women] feel included; and 
3. Be intentional and do your part to increase representation.

In other news, UnicornDAO’s “My Body, My Business” Auction Live With Sotheby’s.