POLLICY is inviting interviewees to delve into the dynamic landscape of feminist tech funding, shedding light on current trends and shaping the future of this vital sector.
What is feminist tech(nology)?
Feminist technology, also known as Femtech, refers to the application of technology with a focus on addressing and promoting gender equality, women’s empowerment, and social justice. It involves the development, design, and use of technological tools and innovations to challenge and disrupt gender-based inequalities and biases.
Feminist technology recognizes that technology is not neutral and can perpetuate or amplify existing gender disparities. It seeks to understand and address these biases by creating inclusive and gender-responsive solutions. The work of feminist technologists ensures that technology is accessible, usable, and beneficial to people of all genders, while also addressing the specific needs and experiences of women and marginalized groups.
Feminist technology can include but is not limited to applications of sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence prevention and support, economic empowerment of marginalized groups, education and skill development, entertainment, research and inclusive design that bring together diverse users and perspectives.
Who funds FemTech?
Funding for feminist technology comes from a handful of sources such as government funding, non-profit organisations, private foundations and to a lesser extent, impact investors, crowdfunding or academia.
What are the bottlenecks in funding for FemTech?
Funding, overall, plays a crucial role in advancing digital rights and empowering civic tech initiatives, particularly within the feminist tech space. However, despite the proven potential and impact of these initiatives, funding trends often exhibit a bottleneck approach, favouring familiarity over innovation. This raises important questions about the future of feminist tech and its ability to thrive in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. For example, the number of female founders of startups and funding raised by female founders still remains very low. The total funding to female founders in 2020 stood at only 2.3% according to Crunchbase data and the Startup Genome survey in 2023 showed that only 15% of tech startup founders globally are female.
Our analysis of the feminist tech funding landscape underscores the urgent need to expand the reach and impact of these initiatives in the era of digital inclusion. We must understand the emerging issues within feminist tech and address the extent to which they are supported or neglected.
A similar analysis shows the tendency for funders to fall back on traditional patterns, often funding what they know and overlooking promising feminist tech ventures led by small teams. A recent report by the Association for Progressive Communications emphasizes the importance of shared language, particularly in the context of digital safety.
Additionally, it highlights the necessity of creating space for progress while acknowledging the influence of financial resources on feminist work. While the potential for impact and funding in the feminist tech sphere is evident, so are the challenges, power dynamics, and sustainability concerns that accompany this terrain.
How can we improve the FemTech funding landscape?
We have a few ideas on how we could strengthen the current funding landscape:
1. Create dedicated funding programs: Establish specific funding programs or grants targeted at supporting FemTech startups and projects. These programs can be run by government agencies, foundations, and organizations that prioritize gender equality and women’s empowerment. Providing dedicated funding streams can help address the specific challenges faced by FemTech entrepreneurs.
2. Support policy initiatives: Advocate for policies that promote gender equality and support FemTech. This can include policies that encourage diversity in tech, provide tax incentives for investors supporting FemTech, or allocate funding for research and development in gender-inclusive technologies. Engaging with policymakers can help create an enabling environment for FemTech funding.
3. Foster collaboration and partnerships: Encourage collaboration between FemTech startups, research institutions, corporations, and nonprofit organizations. Partnerships can provide access to expertise, resources, and funding opportunities. Collaboration can also help address complex challenges and drive innovation in FemTech.
4. Raise awareness and visibility: Highlight the importance and impact of FemTech through media coverage, events, and campaigns. Showcase success stories of FemTech initiatives and their contributions to healthcare, wellness, education, and other areas. The increased visibility can attract attention from investors and encourage more funding opportunities.
There is more we could do.
Pollicy is embarking on an interview series, engaging donors, founders, representatives from the tech community, and stakeholders within the feminist tech ecosystem. Through these interviews, we aim to explore the motives, practices, and challenges faced by donors who relinquish control over their philanthropy to empower the people and communities they support. This research endeavour seeks to benefit both power-shifters and non-power-shifters, as well as the organizations, advisors, and nonprofit leaders they collaborate with.
As part of this initiative, we have developed a survey in a bid to engage funders, donors, partners, and members of the fem-tech community to hear your thoughts and experiences. We hope to feature responses from the survey in a blog series as part of historicizing and shaping the future of feminist tech funding in Africa.
