Hey everyone, my name is Sarah Donaldson, I’m the UX Lead and PM here at BlockAble Solutions and the ABL Ecosystem. I am also, a woman in blockchain.

As with many industries traditionally dominated by men, the Blockchain space is presently lacking in its representation of women (94% male to 6% according to Coin Dance and google analytics). Why is this some of us ask? Some articles I’ve read claim it comes from a simple lack of interest, while others say women simply want the benefits of being thought leaders in the space without doing any of the hard work. I tend to disagree with those opinions, but it did get me thinking that we definitely do need to shed more light on women, and the experiences we have existing in this space.

A Couple Disclaimers

Before I dive into it — a couple disclaimers, first of which is that this article isn’t about WHY we need women in blockchain (I’m sure you can figure that part out), but I will say that it takes two to tango and that men are not the only ones creating discrimination, if we really want to bring more women to the space it’s going to take all of us to create that change.

Secondly, this is just my experience; I acknowledge that I lucked out in the sense that ABL is Co-Founded and led in part by a righteously strong woman! Lastly, while this article isn’t about why we need women in the space, I do hope that this encourages more women to join us! Please? We need you! (anyone…bueller?)

Now then, we could easily get into the whole Nature vs. Nurture debate but… let’s not ;) But to kick us off and give you some perspective, here is a little bit about my background working in tech in general as a lady…

I have worked with a variety of tech companies across North America, mostly small to medium, some with 50/50 gender splits and LGBTQ and some, I was the only female in the joint. Honestly, I had good and bad experiences from both when it came to my gender.

The not so cool parts of working in tech (past experiences):

Having worked in the tech industry for what is considered a fairly decent amount of time, I can say that Blockchain is not so different from the rest of the techworld. How many of you have experienced any of these?

Gender profiling — it’s a thing. Often I get profiled for being a ‘sales chick’ (no offense, sales is not easy job! It’s just lame when someone makes an assumption).

Being called ‘stupid’ in a work setting by a male colleague (he was kind of just an ass in general though)

Get labelled ‘cute’, ‘innocent’ ‘sweet’ or ‘too nice’. Heck, I have been called ‘brash’ when standing up for myself politely.

Been overlooked for leadership positions, for being a woman, despite being the most knowledgeable person in the group on the topic.

Yes — I have heard an unbelievable amount of foul mouthed jokes (but really some were funny and if you know the people well enough, you know they mean no harm — just seeking attention).

These aren’t made up, I’ve lived it. All of those things are not cool. Very, not cool. To add to it, It may come as a surprise to many of you but — All of these things have come from both men and WOMEN in tech.