We need more women in blockchain, and providing a welcoming environment for educational opportunities is a wonderful place to start.
Here in the UK, the first ever Women in Tech Week took place from October 7-11, with in-person and virtual events held across the country focused on education, career development and networking.
Tech Week supporters included big names such as Barclays (NASDAQ: BCS), Oracle (NASDAQ: ORCL), Morgan Stanley (NASDAQ: MS) and EY with an even longer list of partners including Tec Women, Code First Girls, Next. Tech Girls, HSBC (NASDAQ: HSBC), Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM), Women in Tech, Women in Data and the list goes on.
The Block Dojo also partnered with Women in Tech Week and hosted an in-person Blockchain Building 101 session on October 8, an event I had the pleasure of attending.
“When the team behind the first Women in Tech Week contacted us to partner and host a skills session to help close the technology gap facing women in the UK, we jumped at the opportunity. “opportunity,” Cait Pilkington, Head of Deal Flow at Block Dojo. , shared with me.
“The tech industry, and especially Web3, is heavily male-dominated, and that can seem intimidating for women trying to break into or build a career in the industry,” she said.
Pilkington then explained how the Block Dojo program, a global business builder with a particular focus on blockchain and future technologies, is working to make access to technology and space, in general, more welcoming for women.
“We know that innovation comes from diversity of thought. Increasing this diversity within the space introduces exciting new ideas and ways of doing things, which only makes things better for everyone,” Pilkington said.
The Blockchain Building 101 session provided a “safe space” to introduce women to the basics of blockchain technology with hands-on activities and an engaging presenter.
“We are very fortunate at Block Dojo to have our own in-house blockchain and AI expert, Priyatham Varma, who makes understanding blockchain at the simplest level fun and easy,” shared Pilkington.
“The session taught participants the basics of block building, validation, mining, smart contracts and tokens,” she added.
What was magical about this session was the participants’ willingness to ask all sorts of questions throughout the evening, no matter how basic they may seem. Attendees were also keen to discuss real-world applications of blockchain, which was a welcome outcome for the Block Dojo team.
“We know how important it is to improve opportunities for female founders, and we are actively working to become more visible in women’s communities to ensure the next unicorn is not missed due to limited access ” said Pilkington.
“We are very pleased with our progress in this area, and our current cohort, Cohort 9, is made up of 50/50 women-founded companies and male-founded companies. We aim to continue this trajectory and ensure we remain accessible to female founders in the future,” she added.
I also felt a lot of love for British women in tech at the Blockchain conference in London last May, with a strong presence of speakers and attendees, including a master of ceremonies (the lovely Lilly Douse !) and a Women in Blockchain speaker. event. After speaking with Alex Stein, LBC’s Events Director, I can reveal that efforts are being made to welcome even more fabulous women to the London Blockchain Conference 2025 and other events leading up to it.
“As a conference dedicated to the advancement of blockchain and emerging technologies, we are deeply committed to fostering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) within the industry,” Stein said.
“In May, we successfully hosted a Women in Blockchain evening, providing a platform for women leaders to share their ideas and innovations,” he said.
“This November, we are honored to take the conversation further with an exclusive event at the House of Lords. Driving inclusive innovation: DEI strategies for blockchain, Web3 and AI in the UK, “ where we will explore concrete strategies to ensure these transformative technologies are developed in an inclusive way, reflecting the diversity of the UK’s tech talent. We believe true innovation happens when everyone has a seat at the table,” Stein added.
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