You have been presented with two choices: EVOLVE or REPEAT

I’d like to make a difference while I am here on earth. If that means making someone smile, making your life easier, helping you find a job, introducing you to the right people, and giving up my time, I will do so. I want to be generous as far as my resources will allow. And if that means that one day, someone somewhere will say “You made a difference to me” – it will all be worth it.

I didn’t start my business to make money, I started my business to make a difference. After a few bumps, bruises and triumphs the company is finally in the place where I truly believe that what we do makes a difference (and if we make a little money then that’s OK too).

After watching for 18 years as women were overlooked for industry roles, event organisers neglected to provide a diverse speaker lineup, organisations failed to change their D&I policies, and market stats kept highlighting the lack of women in security – along with the lack of educational capabilities and programs to nurture young women into the security industry – I decided that what I wanted to do was to help make a difference here. It’s not an easy space though and clearly, my work is cut out for me.

As the CEO of Source2Create, my passion for making a difference for women in the security industry is evident. Programs such as the Australian Women in Security Awards, and now the New Zealand Women in Security Awards, complement Women in Security Magazine – a resource that remains free to all, with over 140 pages per issue featuring articles, how-tos, career and industry perspectives and real-life journeys for readers to learn from and be inspired – we are giving back to the industry every day.

Over the years I have had constant conversations with people in the industry – generally, minorities and women who feel hindered by career growth and don’t believe there are jobs out there for them, and who feel they lack the skill sets job descriptions require. So every week I gather jobs from my Linkedin feed and push out notifications on social media to my networks about what jobs are available now. I am not a recruiter, but I nonetheless want to help those that have felt hindered in their career growth and just don’t see these jobs in their feeds.

With estimates suggesting there are 3.5 million vacant cybersecurity jobs this year, the global cybersecurity workforce needs to grow at a staggering rate of 145% each year just to meet the shortage. So I truly believe that to solve the skills shortage we need to take action.

I believe the solution to resolving the security industry’s skills shortage lies in hiring a diverse workforce, nurturing and training women and other minorities, rather than expecting to bring them in fully qualified.

In many ways, we have created a skills shortage, with women only making up 20 to 28% of the cybersecurity workforce (and even less in protective security). Blame our own narrow-mindedness and the requirement to have ‘hit the ground running’ candidates. Think about the effect when we fail to encourage young women to pursue these careers at an early age.

Consider that even when a woman is actually hired within a business, retaining them is a whole different ball game: without an inclusive environment, an equal wages playing field, and mentors to look up to – they are more likely to go find an environment that can tick those boxes rather than stick around.

We owe it to ourselves to our nation to decrease the gender gap, make security more inclusive for women, and build a truly diverse workforce capable of addressing the security skills shortage. We also owe it to the industry to remove the stigma that security is a gender-based field. These perceptions are only hurting us and stopping all of us from making the difference that we want to.

Here are a few ways you can help make a difference:

1. Mentor a woman you know.
2. If you are a parent, encourage your kids to be involved in STEM to make sure they have an interest from an early age. 
3. Address how you could foster a more inclusive environment in your team.
4. Recognise and celebrate women in the industry so we have more representation (Hell, even nominate them for the Women in Security Awards!)
5. Hire a graduate into your team and upskill them.
6. Engage more men to support you on gender equality and D&I. 
7. Engage with more men to create an equal voice in all discussions and meetings.
8. Volunteer for events that include STEM education for kids and young women wanting to get into security.
9. Support one another.
10. Speak up, whether you’re talking to your friends and family, or engaging with an advocacy organisation, the most important way to be an advocate is speaking up. By raising your voice for women’s rights and gender equality, you can spread awareness and break down barriers.
11. Sponsor teachers to attend cybersecurity courses or earn certificates so that they are equipped with the latest information to teach students. Make resources about coding clubs and cybersecurity camps available to students, too.
12. Turn a real-world community problem into a cybersecurity competition. This encourages students to explore the link between technology, its impact on people’s lives, and the ability to be creative. Give prizes to students who win intramural programs, or work with existing programs (for example, eCybermission) to compete with teams from other schools.
13. Consider making changes to systems, processes, and environments to foster a greater sense of belonging and to reduce the negative impact of internalized stereotypes among girls and women. 
14. Shift Your hiring Focus. Instead of evaluating job applications for specific qualifications like degrees, look for applications that show evidence of quick learners, competency, and motivation.