Tokenize infrastructure, not people — 5 tips for international women’s day

Today is International Women’s Day! This is an important day to celebrate, but also to take stock of the structural and everyday gender-based discrimination that happens in our ecosystems and industries. But while doing this important work there are some good and some less great ways of going about it!

Whether for celebratory or derogatory reasons, it can be unsettling as a person to be reduced to their gender (or any physical attribute for that matter!) So, how does one focus on the issue of gender discrimination without awkwardly tokenising people? Here are five tips to keep in mind...

1. Diversity in the workplace is not just about doing the right thing

It is essential for ensuring a healthy ecosystem. Having a variety of experiences and perspectives present ensures that projects and efforts are actually relevant and resonate outside of an otherwise narrow slice of society. To be blunt, it makes the ecosystem more rich (experientially, and well, literally too)! Diversity makes for better projects, products and services because they will be relevant to more people and resonate with more experiences.

Nym has consistently put the time in to make sure that we get a strong representation of women within the organisation. Not only are 5 out of 9 (55%) of our executive team are women, but also 15 out of our 45 (33%) full time staff identify as women or non-binary. To put this in perspective the UK’ average for women in tech is just 26% and for women in Web3 industry jobs at just 13%.

How do we do this? By fostering a culture of inclusivity, and understanding that without a strong representation of all backgrounds, Nym would have no chance of being the best privacy tech company in the world.

2. Put in the effort

So, put in the effort! It is far easier to remember one’s pals and the loudest people in the room when recruiting or organising a panel for a conference. Which means it is hardly surprising that there are often all-male panels with organisers throwing their hands up saying they tried but simply could not find any women or non-binary people to speak on the topic. Oftentimes, it just takes a little more effort and a shift in focus to take notice of who else is around and doing important work.

Whether you are onboarding, recruiting or organising a panel for a conference, qualifications and experiences should be the first criteria, so put in that extra effort and not just go with the first person that comes to mind or the easiest option. Don’t assume any woman you meet at a conference is there because they are someone’s girlfriend and don’t assume the guys are always the decision-makers. Make that effort and make sure you highlight talent, not biology!

3. Don’t single people out for their gender (or any other physical attributes for that matter)

When you have done that extra work and have found a super talented person in the field, you might be very proud of yourself and you might be extra proud for having put in the extra effort to find a top professional who is a woman or non-binary person. And while it is fine to celebrate this achievement internally, do NOT publicly single this person out for their gender (or indeed for any other physical or biological attributes — it’s never great, it’s just creepy)!

It can be a disempowering experience for a person to realise they have been hired, added to a speaking panel, or being interviewed for reasons that have nothing to do with the topic at hand. It can undermine a person’s credibility in the eyes of others, distract from their actual expertise and can ultimately undermine their sense of self-worth.

4. Celebrate talent, not biology

Make sure to celebrate people for their talent, not for their physical traits. It is an ingrained habit to celebrate men for their achievements, women for their physical attributes and make anyone in between invisible. To remedy this requires a conscious effort. Habits are usually unconscious, and societal habits are ingrained into language, culture and institutions. Talent and achievements come in loud and quiet forms regardless of gender, so make sure your organisation is paying attention to and rewarding all contributors!

5. Freedom means self-determination — don’t impose categories on others

Finally, let’s talk about why a privacy tech company is publishing a piece about International Women’s Day — it is not just about good HR practices!

The problem of surveillance is that it systematically categorises, profiles and targets people. Surveillance is an imposition of an identity that makes you a target and that you have not had the chance to determine for yourself. And this is exactly what gender oppression does too. It is not about whether someone identifies as a woman or not, wears makeup or not or chooses parenting over profession when it is on their own terms. It is about the violent imposition of a set of categories, preconceptions and hierarchies onto a person by other people and systems.

The historical oppression of women has precisely meant forcing a vast, diverse number of people into a biological category and inventing all kinds of truisms about what it means to be a woman. And the violence of either being thrown into or excluded from the category of woman continues to this day.

It is essential to avoid echoing this historical mistake of reducing people to biology, while nevertheless putting in the effort needed to ensure that people of any gender can participate in building the societal infrastructures of the future.

Remember:

1. Diversity is a strength.
2. Put in the effort.
3. Don’t single people out for their physical attributes.
4. Celebrate talent.
5. Freedom means self-determination.

In other words, tokenise infrastructure, not people!

We are always looking for more talent at Nym, have a look at our open job postings.

Resources

• A bot revealing pay inequality
• A magazine on women in the business of Web3
• A book on how the category of “Women” was exported and imposed across the world
• An essay ‘Crypto-politics — an update’ with more than 90% female authors referenced
• A podcast with Nym Chief Scientist Claudia Diaz on women in cybersecurity from 2022

Get in touch if you have questions, comments if you want to share more resources!

(CSO) or (HR)

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