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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday March 21 2017, @10:28AM   Printer-friendly
from the not-just-infosec dept.

Submitted via IRC for TheMightyBuzzard

The global cybersecurity workforce remains stagnant at just 11 percent, according to the 2017 Women in Cybersecurity Report[PDF], co-authored by The Executive Women's Forum on Information Security, Risk Management and Privacy (EWF) and the Center for Cyber Safety and Education, which partnered with (ISC)2. The report is based on survey responses from over 19,000 information security professionals in 170 countries.

Report co-author and EWF founder Joyce Brocaglia says the most important finding of the report is that "it isn't just one thing" causing the persistent shortage of women in information security, but rather a "confluence of events."

The findings, says Brocaglia, show that women are underrepresented, are paid less than their male colleagues, feel undervalued, and feel discriminated against. "That's what's leading to this stagnation."

The shortage is severe in North America, with only 14 percent of the infosec workforce composed of women, but even more striking elsewhere; women only claim 7 percent of the workforce in Europe, 8 percent in Asia, and 5 percent in the Middle East, according to the report.

"Common sense should tell you we should be doing more about this," says co-author and EWF executive director Lynn Terwoerds, noting that in order to solve the cybersecurity skills shortage, the industry must do a better engaging the female population.

Source: http://www.darkreading.com/careers-and-people/women-still-only-11--of-global-infosec-workforce/d/d-id/1328409


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by shrewdsheep on Tuesday March 21 2017, @03:57PM (3 children)

    by shrewdsheep (5215) on Tuesday March 21 2017, @03:57PM (#482211)

    There is a real problem: A bias against women.
    This is a real problem and has been tested multiple times by putting a 'female' or 'male' name above identical resumes and looking at the responses. The same problem exists if you put a 'foreign' name on top of the same resumes. Humans tend to have a bias against anything different from themselves.

    While I tend to agree with your point, I am not sure that your argument supports it. I remember an article in Science (or Nature) about a similar setup in the context of science. Women were disadvantaged but even more so by other women. The interpretation was that there is a fundamental bias against women that cannot be evaded even by women themselves. There is another possible interpretation: women are advantaged in their scientific career and other women know this better than men. They therefore correct achievements of women downwards more strongly than men.
    I personally believe that there are biases against women but also in their favor. What is certain IMO is that there are biases in all directions against all sorts of people. For example, being modest will get you punished in most situations. I agree with your proposal of making as much as possible anonymous, in as many aspects as possible, as this would help biases beyond those concerning gender.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @05:24PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @05:24PM (#482253)

    That is called cultural bias. Women and men are equally affected by the culture they are raised in. Lots of women believe in horrible stereotypes, doesn't take away from the problem of discrimination.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @07:43PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 21 2017, @07:43PM (#482345)

    > I personally believe that there are biases against women but also in their favor.

    Yes, it is called benevolent sexism and its the scraps given to women who conform to social expectations.
    But as soon as you break those norms, you become a "bad girl" and even those scraps are withheld.

    • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday March 22 2017, @01:58AM

      by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday March 22 2017, @01:58AM (#482498) Journal

      THANK YOU! This needed so badly to be said. I'm one of those "bad girls." I'm apparently scary-looking (men do *not* like a six foot woman, especially not one with permanent Grumpy Cat face and knee-length hair), opinionated, smart, and don't take shit from anyone. This is a really bad combination. I'm femme enough that it's not obvious I'm gay but that alone would throw me in the "bad girls" camp too.

      You better believe those scraps get taken away pretty damn fast. It is incredible, just fucking *incredible,* how many d00dbr0s out there seem to think half the human race exists as basically mobile incubators/masturbation aids with cooking skills. It seems like my very existence is perceived as offensive by some people, and they sometimes let me know very directly.

      Being a woman isn't as bad as it was even 50 years ago but damn, do you need to have a thick fucking skin. It feels like being an alien on my own home planet sometimes. You get very, very tired, mostly, and it becomes difficult not to get cynical and worn down and just go into a kind of defensive catatonia. Being poor doesn't help, either.

      --
      I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...