TLDR; A community of women and non-binary people unlocking the next wave of developers in web3 by providing education, opportunities, and funding

Our Story

The lack of representation in web3 is an all too familiar feeling for women in tech. Although women make up 32.9% of the global workforce, the proportion of women in technical roles is 25% (Deloitte). In the US, women hold only 26% of computing roles despite constituting 57% of the total workforce (NCWIT).

Strikingly, in the US, Asian women represent 7% of the computing workforce, African-American or Black women account for 3%, and Hispanic or Latina women constitute 2% (NCWIT). The crypto ecosystems in developed countries reflect a similar gender imbalance—women represent just a third of crypto owners (Gemini, 2021 Global State of Crypto Report 4). Particularly in the US, racial minorities constitute merely 29% (Gemini, 2021 State of U.S. Crypto Report 5).

Unsurprisingly, underrepresented people are hesitant to enter and stay in spaces that are seemingly absent of peers, mentors, and role models and notably rife with hype, scams, and rug pulls. Mass adoption of blockchain technology will require collective action to make the web3 space more welcoming, fair, and safe.

However, it takes only one person with conviction to mobilize people to shape a more diverse, inclusive, and equitable web3. This one tweet started a ripple of change that nudged women and non-binary developers from around the world to dive into web3. For many, Web3Con 2022 was their first hackathon ever and/or their first time building in the web3 space.

What we accomplished in one week

In the first week of March 2022, 30 women and non-binary people across 8 countries formed 6 teams and competed alongside 600+ hackers for the $65,000 prize pool. All 6 teams submitted a project that utilized blockchain technology, every builder received a $1000 grant for their contributions, and new friendships and partnerships were solidified.

Additionally, 3 of the teams won bounties with prize monies totaling over $2,500. Team Primero won Filecoin & IPFS First Place Bounty, Team Maxima won Filecoin & IPFS Prize Pool Bounty, and Team Treehouse won Polygon Best dApp Bounty. This experience was so positive that we decided to officially create a community based on our passion for web3 so that we can continue to welcome new members, build projects together, and share our knowledge.

Who are we?

Women Build Web3 (WBW3) is a global collective of women and non-binary developers learning and building in web3 that was born from Developer Dao. We continue to collaborate closely with Developer DAO as a "sister" DAO and work cross-team on all initiatives. Our community today is composed of software engineers (frontend, backend, full-stack, and blockchain), designers (visual, UX/UI, product), content creators, technical writers, product and project managers, and founders with wide-ranging experiences in tech and web3. We span 8 countries, 16 cities, and 9 timezones and counting.

We believe in the potential of blockchain technology to decentralize and democratize the internet and further global financial inclusion. We are united in our passion to make the web more equitable, accessible, and transparent and to bring the power back to individuals. We are excited by the opportunities to build and extend composable, interoperable, permissionless, and trustless systems in the fast-paced, highly collaborative web3 space. We share interests in smart contracts, NFTs, DAOs, DeFi, and more, and many of us have already been interfacing with and contributing to these areas. We are eager to develop complex decentralized apps and social goods, transition into web3 full-time, and overall, have a sizable, meaningful impact in this space.

What does WBW3 do?

Women Build Web3 removes barriers to tech and unlocks the potentials of women and non-binary developers by providing:

• Education, mentorship, and resources focused on software development and blockchain technology.
• Structured opportunities and predictable outcomes to apply technical knowledge and skills with end-to-end support from onboarding to job placement with collaboration from ecosystem partners.
• Funding for active participation, contributions, and projects

We bring together women and nonbinary developers in an environment that encourages and supports ambitious, sustainable, and accountable learning and growth. We drive personal and professional development initiatives such as workshops, hackathons, networking events, and study groups and outline predictable outcomes for active participation and contribution. We help members identify and engage with opportunities to master their craft and shape their careers. Ultimately, we are cultivating a global talent incubator and network of women and non-binary people who will build together at new frontiers of technology.

To create a culture where women and non-binary developers can thrive and innovate in, we will follow and lead by our guiding principles:

• Diversity & Inclusion - We are inclusive, intersectional, and accessible
• Curiosity & Collaboration - We learn from one another, teach each other, build together, and lift every person up
• Courage & Leadership - We are boldly paving paths and setting examples for others

1 DAO, 10 Hackathons, 100 Projects, 1000 Devs

Our goal this year is to onboard 1000 developers, ship 100 projects, complete 10 hackathons, and form 1 DAO. To achieve our goal, for the upcoming months, we’ll be focusing on:

1) Creating a strong presence on social media

We are leveraging social media and blogging platforms to connect with women and non-binary developers and make it known to them that supportive communities, paid growth opportunities, and mappable career paths exist in web3. We are aiming to reach over 10,000 followers and at least half a million monthly views and impressions by the end of 2022.

2) Supporting our community members and initiatives

We want to ensure that people are learning and working towards their goals as they participate in events and contribute to initiatives. We are striving for every member to ship at least 5 projects, complete at least 4 hackathons, write at least 3 blog posts, and/or lead at least 2 projects or initiatives. We want at least 70% of our initial cohort to transition into web3 full-time within a year.

3) Forming long-term partnerships and securing funding

We have already kicked off study groups (Solidity, LearnWeb3) and group projects (30 Days of Web3 guide, subgraph bounties, social tokens) and registered for upcoming hackathons (Eth Amsterdam, Chainlink, The Graph). We are pursuing partnerships, sponsorships, and grants to support our initiatives and retain our members. We are seeking to work with at least 10 organizations and to distribute at least $100k to our members to fund their projects and recognize their contributions and achievements.

4) Laying the groundwork for our DAO

We are forming a DAO in order to facilitate transparency, autonomy, and shared ownership. We are working on incorporating tooling to help with coordination, compensation, and governance and on creating social tokens to incentivize participation and signify accomplishments.

Unlocking the Next Wave

Web3 needs diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to drive blockchain innovation and global adoption. As crypto and blockchain gain awareness and traction, the next million people in web3 will likely include more women and people representing various ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds (Gemini, 2021 Global State of Crypto Report 4). Our collective aims to onboard and retain many talented and diverse builders in this space. By supporting women and non-binary people with education, opportunities, and funding and connecting them with a network of peers, we believe we can close gaps in diversity, equity, and inclusion in web3.

Connect with us

Follow us on https://www.twitter.com/womenbuildweb3 to stay tuned to when we open up memberships once we build a solid foundation for our organization. If you are a web3 company interested in supporting us, kindly email info@womenbuildweb3.com or directly message @camiinthisthang on Twitter.

Big thank you to Developer DAO, Filecoin, Livepeer, & The Graph for being our partners.

And kudos to Sarah Z, Dawn, and Meowy for driving this whitepaper.

Works Cited

Gemini. 2021 Global State of Crypto Report. 2022, https://www.gemini.com/state-of-crypto.

Gemini. 2021 State of U.S. Crypto Report. 2022, https://www.gemini.com/state-of-us-crypto.

Hupfer, Susanne, et al. “Women in the Tech Industry: Gaining Ground, but Facing New Headwinds.” Deloitte Insights, Deloitte, 30 Nov. 2021, www2.deloitte.com/us/en/insights/industry/t...

Women and Information Technology. “The State of Girls and Women in STEM." March 2022, https://wpassets.ncwit.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/02054435/0224_2022_BTN_FullSize.pdf.