Women in Cybersecurity
Copyright © 2016 by Excelsior College
Published by arrangement with
Excelsior College’s National Cybersecurity Institute (NCI)
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form
or by any means electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
Hudson Whitman/ Excelsior College Press
7 Columbia Circle
Albany, NY 12203
www.hudsonwhitman.com
Printed in the United States of America
Book design by Sue Morreale
Cover design by Philip E. Pascuzzo
ISBN 978-1-944079-91-8
eISBN 978-1-944079-11-6
Contents
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1 Women in Cybersecurity Overview
Chapter 2 Girls in Predetermined Roles
Chapter 3 Girls in K-12
Chapter 4 Women in the Technology Workplace
Chapter 5 Solutions to Barriers
Chapter 6 Breaking the Glass Ceiling
Chapter 7 On the Glass Cliff
Chapter 8 Imposter Syndrome and Women
Chapter 9 Summary
References
About the Authors
Acknowledgments
A book of any sort is never written alone, and that is certainly true of this book. The authors wish to thank everyone who contributed their time and effort bringing this work to fruition. Without their guidance, assistance, and never-ending patience, it would never have happened. Thank you.
Chapter 1
Women in Cybersecurity Overview
According to a 2010 U.S. Department of Labor Women’s Bureau publication, women represent approximately one-half of the total American workforce. Of the available pool of women over 16 years of age, 57 percent were employed. Of those, 1.2 percent have a doctoral degree, 9.3 percent have a master’s degree, 20.7 percent have a bachelor’s degree, and 27.8 percent have an associate’s degree or some college credits. Meyer (2014) notes that “American women born in the early 1980s are 33 percent more likely to have earned a college degree by the time they reach 27 years of age than their male contemporaries, according to the results of a longitudinal study published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.” Noting the increase in women in college, Jeffrey (2012) writes that “President Barack Obama marked the 40th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX—which bars gender discrimination in education—and noted that more women in the United States are now graduating from college than men, which he characterized as ‘a great accomplishment’ for the nation.”
Clearly, women are increasingly well educated and well represented in the workforce, yet in some areas, their numbers are strikingly low. One example is in the poor representation of women in the C-Suite, especially in the top chair as CEO. Of the Fortune 500 companies, only 4.4 percent of CEOs are women. This number has remained relatively stable for many years, despite the growing number of well-qualified women in leadership roles (Bagchi-Sen, Sharmistha, H.R. Rao, Upadhyaya, and Chai, 2009).
Another example where women are poorly represented in the workforce is in the IT and cybersecurity sectors. While women make up over 50 percent of the workforce, only about 25 percent of the IT workforce is female. Khanna (2013) writes that “across the technology sector there is a major disparity between men and women. While 57 percent of occupations in the workforce are held by women, in computing occupations that figure is only 25 percent.” The problem seems to be worldwide as well. Kiss (2012) asks, “Why is it that, while women make up 49 percent of the UK labour force, they account for just 17 percent of IT and telecom professionals?” The situation in cybersecurity is even more unbalanced and dismal. In their study, Bagchi-Sen et al. (2009) write that “although cyber-security is a critical IT area, women continue to be underrepresented among its ranks. . . . according to a 2006 IDC survey . . . only 13 percent of U.S. cybersecurity professionals are women—and this percentage is higher than in Europe and Asia.” Kinsey (2015) also notes the underrepresentation and writes that “the percentage of women working in computing is disappointing. But when it comes to the specialty of cyber-security, the numbers are even more dismal.” She reports that the percentage of women in cybersecurity is only 11 percent. Williams (2015) confirms these figures and reports that “just one in ten cybersecurity professionals are women, a percentage that appears to be shrinking amidst a growing workforce shortage in the field, a new survey shows. ICS2, which certifies cybersecurity professionals, said Monday that only 10 percent of 14,000 IT security professionals in developed countries were women—down from 11 percent last year.”
