Women in Cybersecurity

In the United States of America, there are currently 769,736 cybersecurity job openings (Cybersecurity supply and demand heat map). Both companies and the government are looking for people to fill these positions. It seems that the more time goes on, the more job positions are being made. Cybersecurity is a great field to work in with many different career paths, but the positions aren’t being filled as fast as they are being made. One of the reasons that these positions aren’t being filled is because there is a group of perfectly capable and qualified people that don’t see cybersecurity as a possibility. In 2014, only 18% of cybersecurity specialists were women (Jethwani et al.). In the article “I Can Actually Be a Super Sleuth: Promising Practices for Engaging Adolescent Girls in Cybersecurity Education”, the authors perform a study to see if engaging adolescent girls into cybersecurity summer programs would help raise their interest in cybersecurity.

According to the article, adolescent girls are “less likely than boys to pursue computer science” (Jethwani et al.) and “college women are much less likely to earn computer science degrees than any other STEM-related fields” (Jethwani et al.). Diversity in any field is extremely important. It brings in different ideas and concepts from different points of views. The lack of women in the cybersecurity field is more harmful than beneficial. The authors of this article wanted to find a way to bring more women into the cybersecurity field, and they thought the best place to start would be in sparking interest about cybersecurity in adolescent girls. They hypothesized that if they were to put them through some kind of cybersecurity program, they would be more interested in it than girls who had not participated in any cybersecurity programs.

The study was done over two summers, where the staff and the curriculum did not change (Jethwani et al.). The participants had three main components which were“ a curriculum, live tutoring, and exposure to female mentors” (Jethwani et al.). After completing the summer programs, the girls participated in a focus group. The focus groups were made to “explore the girls’ experiences with the program, as well as their perceptions and beliefs about the cybersecurity field” (Jethwani et al.). To collect the data, the researchers used “qualitative methodology of open coding” (Jethwani et al.). This is when they “divide the narrative data into discrete units of analysis reflective of the major themes…”(Jethwani et al.). 

The study produced many different conclusions. The first conclusion was that all of the participants “interest in cybersecurity increased as a result of their participation” (Jethwani et al.).  The second conclusion was that having an “all-female setting” of the program was “celebrated the participants” (Jethwani et al.). Many of the participants had previously dealt with being the only girl in class and felt that having a female teacher and all female classmates made them more comfortable. The third conclusion was that having “positive teacher relationships’’ (Jethwani et al.) were extremely important. The participants said that the close teacher relationships helped “boost their confidence in their cybersecurity skills”(Jethwani et al.). Out of the many different conclusions that were produced, they all had positive outcomes. The participants recorded that their interest in cybersecurity went up after the summer program.

One of the topics that we discussed in class was the benefits of diversity. Diversity is not only talking about race, it also includes gender. Having a diverse workplace boosts a company’s reputation, helps attract and retain talent, and increases overall fund returns (10 benefits of diversity in the workplace). Diversity has many positive benefits and helps increase work productivity. Having more women working in cybersecurity would bring different viewpoints to the table and would also fill open job opportunities. For years, women have faced problems in the workplace. Putting even a small amount of women in these job opportunities will open the floodgates for more women to join. 

Cybersecurity has many wonderful job opportunities all around the world. Technology is always advancing, and with the advancement of technology comes the advancement of threats. Cybersecurity is seen as a “man’s job”, but that is a false label. Any able-bodied person, regardless of gender, can be a cybersecurity specialist. As long as you get the proper training and certifications, you can have a thriving career. There are too many opportunities for women not to take part in. 

Work Cited

“10 Benefits of Diversity in the Workplace.” WSU Online MBA, 14 Jan. 2021, https://onlinemba.wsu.edu/blog/10-benefits-of-diversity-in-the-workplace/.

“Cybersecurity Supply and Demand Heat Map.” Cybersecurity Supply And Demand Heat Map, https://www.cyberseek.org/heatmap.html.

Jethwani1, Monique, et al. “‘I Can Actually Be a Super Sleuth’: Promising Practices for Engaging Adolescent Girls in Cybersecurity Education.” Journal of Educational Computing Research, 2017, pp. 1–23., https://doi.org/ 10.1177/0735633116651971.