The rise of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) coinciding with digital transformation brings a host of new technologies comprising the intelligent ecosystem, which are profoundly changing business,1 including the metaverse. The metaverse is a digital space for exploration, collaboration, creativity. It combines multiple technology elements, including virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and video, where users "live" within a digital universe. Reconstruction and 3D modeling help make the metaverse a reality by capturing the shape and appearance of real objects, providing realistic experiences and digital displays that better synchronize with human head movements. Spatial and edge computing combine AR, VR and mixed reality (MR) to interact with the real world and quickly respond to user actions that mimic reality and immerse users in the metaverse.
It is a current trend in the digital world because of its seemingly endless potential and applications.
As user engagement continues to increase within the metaverse, it is becoming increasingly clear that women are some of the platform's most dedicated users. Despite this impressive presence, women are still systematically excluded from the technology industry's leadership roles. In recent years, women have also made strides to open the metaverse to all genders, yet barriers still exist for those trying to reach leadership positions in tech. To advance true gender equality within the metaverse, it is essential to identify why these barriers exist and how women can break through them.
Obstacles for Women
Many obstacles that prevent women from achieving leadership roles stem from an underlying structural inequality within and outside of the metaverse.
One of the major impediments to change is traditional gender dynamics, which often reinforces a perception that women inherently lack the capacity to hold influential positions within organizations. This bias creates an environment where it is much harder for women to take charge and make decisions that could propel them forward. These preconceptions have been ingrained into culture for centuries and can quickly become self-fulfilling prophecies if left unchecked.
Beyond these preconceptions, women often find themselves underrepresented in higher-level positions at major organizations, making it difficult for them to enter into situations where they could become leaders in the future. In addition, even if hired, women often face discrimination or unfair expectations compared to their male counterparts. These dynamics can stem from biased hiring practices that may overlook experienced female candidates from accessing critical resources such as mentors and executive leadership and management, financial management, and career development courses, which can often be restricted only to men. This creates an uneven playing field for reaching positions of power and perpetuates a cycle where women do not gain access to all the opportunities needed for career advancement.
Women in the Metaverse
Women are active users of the metaverse, and female consumers and executives are more proactive about metaverse use and initiatives than male consumers and managers.2
Based on a McKinsey report on consumers in the metaverse, more women spent significant time in the metaverse: 35% of the women surveyed were power users (meaning they spend more than 3 hours a week in the metaverse), compared with 29% of men.3 Another report similarly noted that women spend more time in the early iterations of the metaverse and are more likely to spearhead initiatives in the new and developing next generation of the Internet.4 Women engage more in the types of hybrid activities that link the metaverse with the physical world (e.g., education, fitness, gaming, shopping, live events), while men are more likely to purchase nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and use gaming platforms.5 However, men still hold 90% of executive positions in the organizations shaping this emerging metaverse economy.6
In addition, organizations that are members of the Open Metaverse Alliance for Web3 and Metaverse Standards Forum, which are responsible for shaping operating standards for the metaverse, have only 8% and 9% female chief executive officers (CEOs), respectively. This is similar to the approximately 9% of Fortune 500 companies women currently lead. These women also reported spending more extended periods of time on these platforms, with 35% being power users.7
From the entrepreneurial aspect, one report noted that in the past 5 years, metaverse enterprises led by men received a higher share of total entrepreneurial funding than those led by women, 90% vs. 10%.8 In contrast, only 29% of men devoted the same amount of time to metaverse use. Moreover, the same Fortune discloses 60% of women report that they have implemented more than 2 metaverse-relevant initiatives in their organizations.
This evidence demonstrates that though women are active users of the metaverse, they remain locked out of leadership roles and decision-making, indicating gender inequality. Many of the current attempts to bring women onto Internet platforms is as content creators rather than engineers of fundamental technologies. Even at the author’s organization, the qualified content creators are mostly women, and the engineers are men. Therefore, it is becoming clear that in the 4IR, technical skills may be less important than the ability to gather a crew of enthusiasts. However, efforts to include women in the metaverse should aim to attract women to these new platforms, be it via active recruitment with benefits or internship positions to expose them to the technologies early on. This would ensure that they have the same opportunities to capitalize as men.
Industry stakeholders need to engage a range of different voices and infuse diverse leadership into the organizations and coalitions shaping the metaverse.Bridging the Gender Gap
Tech industry stakeholders must engage a range of different voices and infuse diverse leadership into the organizations and coalitions shaping the metaverse. The tech industry can make this change by creating opportunities for women to create and lead in new platforms and learning environments. Creating new programs designed specifically with female leadership roles in mind is a concrete step toward achieving long-term goals and an essential step toward levelling the playing field.
Organizations should actively recruit women to participate in and design their metaverse platforms. By doing this in the early stages of development, some of the inherent biases that occur when a predominantly male team controls the development of new projects can be eliminated. Ensuring opportunities for women can be addressed by routinely auditing current employment practices and identifying discrepancies in overlooking qualified female candidates or unequal treatment once they are hired.
Also, women interested in tech roles should build networks with other female role models who can provide advice, mentorship and support. These connections can be beneficial when looking for job opportunities or navigating workplace dynamics. There are several independent networks that exist to support women in the metaverse and how women are shaping this new digital world.9
In addition, women must be visible and demand participation in building the metaverse. Exploring how technologies such as machine learning can level the playing field allows for new paths toward success regardless of gender identity or background characteristics. In March 2022, during International Women's History month, a public virtual web forum of insightful women leaders working across the spectrum of AI addressed how to break the bias and how AI can assist in this endeavor.10 The leaders agreed that if more women and girls are involved in the early stages of design and building of AI, the outcomes of the products will also carry more innovation and creativity that can serve the women consumers and deliver more profitable and impactful outcomes.
Conclusion
The metaverse creates opportunities for new businesses, brings profound changes to the global economy, and presents challenges to the global economy, which is why all key stakeholders must understand the dynamics at play. Although traditional gender dynamics and systemic inequality create substantial obstacles that are preventing women from achieving parity in leadership roles within the metaverse, there are also ways for women to break through barriers and create change with increased awareness of these issues. Achieving greater gender equity is not only possible, but essential for all to benefit from a more diverse technology innovation landscape.
Endnotes
1 Bekele, S.; “The Role of Transparency and Accountability in Digital Transformation,” ISACA Industry News, 21 February 2023
2 Alaghband, M.; L. Yee; “Even in the Metaverse, Women Remain Locked Out of Leadership Roles,” McKinsey and Company, 21 November 2022
3 Ibid.
4 D’Anastasio, C.; “Women Are Key Metaverse Users, But Men Dominate Jobs Shaping It,” Bloomberg, 21 November 2022
5 Buchholz, L.; “Gender Gap in the Metaverse Has Led to Fewer Women Leaders,” March8, 28 November 2022
6 Op cit D’Anastasio
7 Hinchliffe, E.; “Women CEOs Run More Than 10% of Fortune 500 Companies for the First Time in History,” Fortune, 12 January 2023
8 Armstrong, S.; “There’s a Gender Gap Even in the Metaverse,” The Hill, 20 January 2023
9 Women in the Metaverse
10 Hinchliffe, E.; “DCA Web Forum, “Series6: How Technology Can Help Break the Gender Bias, Young Leaders Perspective”, 26 March 2022
Sophia Bekele, CISA, CGEIT, CCS
Is a business leader, enterprise executive and international entrepreneur whose experience spans both the public and private sectors. She is a thought leader focused on global policy, enterprise governance, technology, and development issues, and an investor and philanthropist. Bekele has experience working for Fortune 500 companies including the Bank of America, Mitsubishi Bank of California, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), in the fields of business and technology, systems security auditing, risk management and enterprise systems. Bekele is a strong advocate for accountability and transparency improvement in all facets of her engagements and holds public authorities and the private sector to high standards.