Understanding programmable agreements and why they matter for equity and justice.
“Smart contracts” sounds intimidating, but the concept is simple. A smart contract is just a program that automatically executes an agreement when certain conditions are met. No lawyers, no middlemen, no gatekeepers.
The Vending Machine Analogy
The simplest smart contract is a vending machine. You put in money, you press a button, you get a snack. The machine doesn't care who you are, doesn't negotiate, doesn't discriminate. If you meet the conditions (correct payment + selection), you get the result (your snack).
Blockchain-based smart contracts work the same way, but for more complex agreements. They can handle loans, insurance payouts, royalty distributions, voting, and countless other arrangements that traditionally required trusted intermediaries.
Why This Matters for Equity
Traditional contracts require enforcement—lawyers, courts, institutions that have historically been biased against women and marginalized communities. If a powerful person breaks an agreement with you, good luck getting justice. The system favors those with resources.
Smart contracts enforce themselves. The code executes automatically, regardless of who you are or how powerful the other party is. A freelancer in Lagos has the same contractual power as a corporation in New York. This is revolutionary.
Real-World Examples
Escrow: A smart contract can hold payment until both parties confirm a transaction is complete—no need to trust a stranger or pay a middleman.
Royalties: Artists can program their work to automatically pay them a percentage every time it's resold—forever, without needing to track or enforce it.
Insurance: Parametric insurance can automatically pay out when conditions are met (like weather data showing a drought), without waiting for claims adjusters who might deny your claim.
Voting: Transparent, tamper-proof voting for everything from organizational decisions to community budgets.
Limitations and Cautions
Smart contracts are not magic. They can only enforce what can be verified on-chain—they can't know if someone actually delivered a physical package. They're also immutable, meaning bugs can't be fixed after deployment. And they're only as fair as the code written—biased programmers can create biased contracts.
The Feminist Vision
Smart contracts could enable agreements for care work, mutual aid networks, cooperative ownership, and community governance—all enforced automatically without requiring access to expensive legal systems. The key is ensuring that women and marginalized people are writing these contracts, not just subject to them.