Women in Cyber: Creating a Vibrant Culture for Our Future

Cybercrime is on the rise and there are great shortages of security analysts worldwide - yet women are estimated to hold just 25% of cybersecurity jobs.

Why aren't there more women in cybersecurity? Two interrelated problems may contribute to this:

• Pipeline: We don't have enough women with college or university science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) degrees. For example, in the U.S., women earn only 38% of STEM degrees.

• Culture: Women with STEM degrees don't want to work at tech companies. For women who earn STEM degrees, only 27% work in their field. Women leave tech companies at a rate two times faster than men.

The result is a chicken and egg scenario: Because fewer women study and work in STEM, we continue to have male-dominated cultures that may not be attractive to women.

Organizations are paving the way to spark interest in technology careers at a young age, and many great cybersecurity programs exist to support and encourage women. This will help to address the "pipeline" issue, but that still leaves culture.

What can we do now to shift the culture so that when those women are ready to enter the workforce, there is a vibrant culture that supports women working alongside men?

Understanding the Undercurrent

According to June Sugiyama, Director of the Vodafone Americas Foundation, while "most women don't experience obvious forms of discrimination or sexism" in the workforce, "they face an undercurrent of condescension that leads to a feeling of isolation."

Since women in tech are underrepresented, many may have the experience of being the "only woman in the room." McKinsey & Company research refers to "microaggressions" that underrepresented groups can experience in situations that lack diversity, such as dealing with teammates who interrupt them, repeat their ideas as if they are their own, or ask them to do menial tasks such as take the meeting notes. The research suggests women are also more likely than men to have their competence questioned and their authority undermined, even when in leadership positions.