Contest!, Contest!!, Contest!!!: Share with Us Your Thoughts/Opinions On Gender Statistics That Outnumber Each Other(Either Male Or Female) In The Steem Blockchain, ---contest entry by @kwadjobonsu

Warming hello to all my fellow Steemians. I believe that everyone is in good health. Today’s post is yet another entry to an interesting contest prompt by @steem-ghana. I will opine on gender statistics based on an inconclusive estimation and extrapolation from few solid statistics on why females are the under-represented gender on Steemit, reasons for their minority categorizations, and some potential solutions to combat the gender inequality on the platform. The contest is open to all steemians, and I humbly invite anyone reading to part-take in this awesome competition. This is the link to the main contest announcement post. I cannot wait to read your entry.

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The misfortune of females being the minority gender on the Steem blockchain stems from the bigger problem of females being the minor population in STEM-related fields. The findings of the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (NSF 19-304) indicated that a mere twenty-one percent of Engineering degrees and nineteen percent of Computer Science degrees were awarded to women in 2016. The gap also widens as the men far outnumber women in technology-related workplaces. The introduction of cryptocurrency has had its fair share of the inequality issue. The cryptocurrency realm has been highly dominated by the male gender and Steemit.com is no different. A closer look at the number of users and their gender groupings reveals how low the population of females is on this platform. A gender statistics graph by @gavvet from four years ago brings to light the huge gender gap.

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Though outdated, this graph provides a relevant point on the distribution of users based on gender. Over time, the gross population has increased so as that of females, but it gap is still far from a close one. In the graph above, we can see that males, indicated by the orange color, greatly outnumber females on the Steem blockchain, indicated by green.

Moreover, a more recent release of the top 500 richest users of Steemit also buttresses the fact that the Steem ecosystem is overpowered by the male figure. In the list of the richest Steemians, the initial mentioned users are apparently accounts owned by several exchange platforms. Hence, those accounts will be regarded as genderless. A scroll past these exchange accounts will start revealing the names of many males figures well known on the platform. There are women on the list, but the number is not encouraging.

Additionally, the newest article on the top 100 Steemit witnesses list also favors the notion that the gender inequality gap is deeper than we thought. The tabulated information displays over 70% person of male-owned accounts rendering the service of witnesses on the Steem Blockchain. I would also want to iterate that some witness accounts are categorized as genderless, for instance, @steem.history and @italygame.

Last but not least, an overview of the gender distribution of Country representatives and moderators across the numerous communities of Steemit lays bold emphasis on the under-representation of females on the Steemit. The number of male figures representing various countries and communities on the platform as well as the moderators is overwhelming, and this goes a long way to demonstrate the dominance of males on the platform.

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The cause of the disturbing gender gap can be attributed to the minimal level of education and exposure of females to Steemit and cryptocurrency in general. A significant percentage of females are financially dependent on men and hence makes it cumbersome for women to engage in emerging financial trends like cryptocurrency. Luckily, Steemit is of a blogging nature, and women love to write and share their thoughts. Hence, promotion of the platform by males and females to women can help hasten gender equality.

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Additionally, special meetups for women on the blockchain can be held to foster the sisterhood spirit among women on the platform. Meetings like these can even gain the attention and interest of many women globally. Some social media platforms are dominated by women, and Steemit can be one of those too. Through that, the Blockchain will flourish not only because of its potential diverse nature, but it will also be blessed with female investors. This will in turn cause the price of Steem and SBD to skyrocket and evolve into the unthinkable.

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A good friend once told me that women have the hive mentality. In a practical sense, females are mostly attracted to what their fellow females like. Hence, I believe that the under-representation of women as leaders in various communities is a likely factor that is repelling most women. I think it can be scary for women to venture into a social media platform where females are low in population and the predominant population, leaders, moderators, and the rich are all male figures. In view of this, the Steemit social media platform can garner significant respect and attention of females if an appreciable number of capable women were assigned leadership and witnesses statuses. This can inspire new female users to work harder to also get to the top one day.

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Steemit is still young and has a promising future. By correcting such fundamental problems at its toddler stage, Steemit will grow to become a more formidable social media platform. Thank you for reading. I would love to hear your thoughts on the issue.