Section 1: Goals and Motivations

The goal of this project was to cultivate and evaluate concrete, implementable strategies for increasing the participation, retention, and promotion of women in the cybersecurity workforce. Within that larger goal, the project was designed with several key elements in mind:

Structural and Scalable Change

The project needed to create change. True as this was from the earliest stages of the project, feedback from participants prior to the meeting reinforced that need. We found that when we first approached participants about the convening, several—particularly women working in the cybersecurity industry—reacted with a sense of fatigue, that this could become “another women in cybersecurity event,”¹ lacking significant improvement in the overall level of participation of women in the industry from one event to the next. Both to achieve project goals and to fully engage participants, the convening was designed to have a perceptible sense of moving the state of affairs forward and creating impact at scale.

"There is a real thirst for new ideas and new approaches. The convening demonstrated a recognition that the ways we have approached solving this problem have not accomplished the needed change in the required timeframe and reinforced the sense of urgency we all feel."

Ideation

The project participants were challenged to develop new, actionable ideas for bringing women into and up through careers in cybersecurity. The intent behind this charge was to steer the conversation away from generalities, descriptions of the problem, and suggestions that have been worn threadbare. Instead, we wanted to keep the focus on solutions that can be put into action and that explore new territory. In order to meet that goal, these solutions should be outlined with enough specificity that the path to implementation became, if not immediately viable, at least plausible.

Infusing the Conversation with New Perspectives

Cybersecurity is a unique field in many ways. Its relative youth, the unorthodox mindsets it attracts, and its astronomical growth all contribute to the fact that—as a general rule—what works in other fields may not translate. However true that may be, there are still many lessons cybersecurity can learn from other communities, for instance, those studying organizational change, gender studies, and human behavior.

Furthermore, lasting change takes buy-in from more than just the small group of experts who regularly work on women in cybersecurity issues. Investors, managers, students, policymakers, members of the media, career professionals, and many others all have unique perspectives and a stake in the matter. Our goal was to gather a group of leaders from different disciplines and backgrounds who could speak not only to the issues for women in cybersecurity but also to solutions and ideas they may have been exposed to through other industries.

Build Connectivity

Catalyzing lasting change in the demographics of the cybersecurity community will require ongoing and consistent support. Accordingly, one goal of this convening was to create a core group of interconnected individuals motivated by the same goal of increasing the number of women in cybersecurity. In some cases, this was a means of strengthening relationships between leaders in the women in cybersecurity conversation. In other cases, it was a means of enabling new stakeholders to enter the conversation and community.

Make Impact Stick

In order to really be successful, the project needed to have impact beyond just the convening itself. In many ways, the other project goals all feed into this end. By focusing on strategic change, generating new ideas, bringing in diverse voices, and building connectivity, we aimed to create the conditions needed for the work to continue. The participants’ own dedication to the issue is one of our greatest assets, in this respect. In all cases, they came to the convening already determined to make change, but the goal was to send them away with new ideas designed for creating change, a vision for how those might be implemented, and a network of partners willing to collaborate.

"Programs that help women should have roles for their male allies to play. We can encourage men to get off the sidelines and mentor, teach, share ideas and talk to women. Social media often elevates the view of some within tech’s “bro club” and can make the isolation worse, both for women AND for their allies. There are some terrific champions out there for diversity of all stripes, and they need their own role models to emulate."