Empowering Women with NFTs: Driving Inclusion in Crypto

The market for NFTs is challenging the traditional art sector. DappRadar, an analytics business, reported $2.5 billion in NFT sales in the first six months of 2021, a significant rise from the $13.7 million in sales in the same period in 2020.

During the first half of 2021, Christie's auction house recorded $93.2 million in NFT sales. In addition to excellent sales, the NFT marketplace OpenSea, which is said to handle 98 percent of the market's transactions, saw $4 billion in NFT trading activity in August of this year.

While the emergence of blockchain-based digital artwork is noteworthy, many of the artists behind today's most sought-after NFTs are males.

For example, digital artist Mike Winkelmann, sometimes known as "Beeple," created NFT history when he sold "Everydays: The First 5000 Days" on Christie's for almost $69 million.

After selling four joint NFT artworks for more than $1 million, platinum-selling singer "Two Feet" and famed visual artist FEWOCiOUS made the news. The sale of 10 pieces of virtual furniture by Argentinian designer Andrés Reisinger for over $70,000 at an NFT auction was also historic.

While the ratio of male to female NFT artists is unknown, statistics reveal that there are far fewer women in the crypto business than males. According to a recent poll performed by bitcoin exchange Gemini, just 26% of ladies own cryptocurrency.

Despite this, the survey found that more women than males expressed an interest in getting engaged with cryptocurrency soon. As a result, it's worth noting that a lot of female artists have begun to create NFT projects to demonstrate increasing female participation while also attempting to attract more women to the crypto sector.

"Learning new words like DeFi, blockchain, and crypto-wallets, much less understanding these terms, takes up a lot of energy and time," Lavinia Osbourne, founder of the community "Women in Blockchain Talks," told Cointelegraph that the NFT sector may be more appealing to different genders because it focuses on creativity. Art, on the other hand, is far more compelling. Many people may not grasp what an NFT is or how it works, but they are familiar with art and creative thinking."

To Osbourne's point, Maliha Abidi, a female artist, novelist, and activist, told Cointelegraph that her first attraction to the NFT world was her affinity for digital media. Abidi noted that she has been using her artwork to advocate for women's rights since 2012, but after learning about NFTs, she established the "Women Rise" initiative.

Women Rise is a one-of-a-kind collection of 10,000 NFTs highlighting female activists, artists, scientists, coders, and more, according to Abidi. "Watch women rise on the blockchain," says the project's mission statement. "I wanted to make sure that I was starting my adventure in NFTs by honoring real-life women from all over the world," Abidi explained.

"This initiative isn't only about ethnic variety; it's also about cultural, religious, and gender diversity in professions where women are smashing the glass barrier. It's also a natural progression of the work I've done for the past nine years."

Abidi intends to launch the Women's Rise project around the end of November, around the same time as the UN's 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign, which began on November 25.

"This project is about art, but it's also about activism and raising a focus on the role women play in real life," Abidi explained.

Abidi went on to say that she is particularly enthusiastic about the project's goal of giving back to several organizations with whom she has previously collaborated. She stated, for example, that 25% of earnings will go to the Malala Fund, with the remaining 10% going to organizations that support gender equality, girls' education, and mental health in marginalized countries.

"Traditional artists aren't simply confined to women," says Abidi, "but also include males and non-binary individuals." Roles must be redefined in this situation. Everyone who wishes to show off their ingenuity is welcome to use the NFT area.

Due to their love for women's rights and digital media, many female artists are motivated to explore the realm of cryptocurrency. "Before founding Boss Beauties, I founded a firm called My Social Canvas," Lisa Mayer, founder of the NFT project Boss Beauties, told Cointelegraph that the prospects made available by nonfungible tokens resonated with her aims to help empower women:

"We developed a line of items made by women, with earnings going back to the artists to help them further their studies. However, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 outbreak, we needed to consider new business models for alternate funding. This is why NFTs and digital art drew me and My Social Canvas together."

Boss Beauties was introduced three months ago, with a collection of 10,000 unique photographs of strong independent women representing various professional routes, according to Mayer.

Even though the NFT field appears to be resonating with more women than other crypto-related sectors, further educational awareness is still required to encourage involvement. Given the nascent nature of the industry, Mayer stated that many of the tech-savvy women in her network are still unaware of NFTs.

As a result, there is a high learning curve to surmount, which Mayer believes will be overcome once women grasp the financial benefits of NFTs. "This is a chance for wealth transfer," she observed.

While education is still necessary for all facets of crypto, it's worth noting that female-led groups have lately been formed to assist raise awareness in less scary settings.