10/07/2023
Kris Lovejoy, a leading figure in the field of cyber security, talks to the progressive feminist web portal March 8th this week on the need for the industry to improve its representation of women, as cyber and security agencies across the free world deal with cyber threats from Russia, China, and Iran, and the need to keep cyber surveillance up on extremist groups like Nazis, TERFs and their allies across the anti-democratic right. Lovejoy remarks "While the cyber-security gender pay gap has started to make steps in the right direction, we’re still seeing significant fall-off within women’s cyber careers, stopping those in early-career roles from moving to management and executive levels. There’s a deep-rooted misconception that women opt out of the working environment in order to start a family, and that this is why early fall-off is so prevalent. But the fact is, starting a family does not simply cease your brain from working and dampen all career ambition. Women are not opting out of promotions; they’re being passed over. Female employees are 14% less likely to be promoted than their male colleagues, despite receiving higher performance ratings on average than their male employees.". She goes on "This lack of diversity and gender parity negatively impacts on cyber-security organisations not just because it widens their skills gaps, but also because it vastly narrows perspectives on cyber-security, increasing the risk of business blind spots."
