During World War II, Britain set up a secret codebreaking center at Bletchley Park. The goal: to break the complex ciphers created by Germany’s “Enigma” machine. At Bletchley, a team of cryptanalysts successfully decrypted the Enigma’s messages.
Their efforts significantly aided the Allies’ war efforts and ultimately led to their victory over Germany and the other Axis powers. One of the most celebrated figures of the Bletchley Park success story is, of course, Alan Turing. Unfortunately, the contributions of thousands of women cryptanalysts, mathematicians, and computer scientists who worked right alongside Turing and other men largely went unacknowledged.
Thankfully, this oversight has since been corrected, and many Bletchley women, including Joan Clarke, Margaret Rock, and Jane Fawcett, are now deservedly considered pioneering legends in the fields of cryptanalysis and cybersecurity. The world also recognizes many other women who have made substantial and meaningful contributions to cybersecurity in the 20th and 21st centuries. But despite these gains, women continue to remain an underrepresented group in this business-critical, and indeed, national-critical sector.
This guide examines the current status of women in cybersecurity, focusing on recent participation statistics, career progression hurdles, and challenges such as pay gaps. It also examines the visibility of women in senior roles and provides valuable insights that could help organizations and governments to address disparities and empower aspiring women to succeed in this dynamic industry.
Participation of women in the global cybersecurity workforce
According to the ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study, women accounted for only 22% of the global cybersecurity workforce on average.1 In some security teams, the number of women is even lower. Around 21% of teams consist of just 1-10% of women, while women make up 11-20% of 19% of teams. Worryingly, around 16% of teams contain no women at all.7
Findings from the Global Cybersecurity Forum’s (GCF) 2024 Cybersecurity Workforce Report and the LinkedIn Economic Graph echo the findings from the ISC2 report. Per GCF, women fill in 36% of tech roles but account for only 24% of the cybersecurity workforce.2 While this is the highest percentage found by GCF researchers, it is still an extremely low number. Per the LinkedIn survey, women constitute less than one-third of cybersecurity professionals across the 14 countries analyzed.3
Together, these findings highlight a severe gender disparity problem in cybersecurity and indicate that the sector remains predominantly male-dominated. This disparity is a significant concern worldwide, more so due to the widening cybersecurity skills gap. Between 2013 and 2021, global cybersecurity job vacancies grew by 350%.4 And by 2024, the workforce gap stood at 4.7 million, meaning there are 4.7 million fewer security personnel than organizations need to properly secure themselves.5 A majority of organizations acknowledge that the skills gap is a serious problem, with 58% stating that it puts them at a significant risk of cyberattacks.6
Salary and career progression hurdles for women in cybersecurity
September 18th is commemorated as International Equal Pay Day. However, when it comes to the salaries and careers of women professionals, particularly in cybersecurity, inequality is more the norm.
In 2023, the average global salary of women cybersecurity professionals was $109,609, while the salary for men was $115,003 – a substantial gap of $5,400.7 This gap is even higher in the US, where women earned nearly $7,000 less on average than men ($141,066 versus $148,035).7
On average, women in cybersecurity earn 16–22% less than their male counterparts.8 Put another way, they earn only 82–88 cents on the dollar compared to men. Furthermore, the pay gap tends to widen with seniority. For example, women in technical leadership roles like CISO earn $30,000–$50,000 less than male CISOs.8
Senior cybersecurity roles for women
The low participation of women in the workforce is undoubtedly a glaring problem in cybersecurity. Another is that very few women hold senior positions. For example, only 7% of women are in C-level cybersecurity positions, such as CTO and CIO.9 One reason is that many tend to get stuck in mid-level roles for far longer – 2.5 years more – than men.8 A lack of recognition of their leadership potential slows down their career velocity and hinders them from taking on more strategic, senior roles.
One positive trend is that 55% of women held managerial or higher positions in their organizations in 2024.9 Furthermore, 53% were hiring decision-makers.9 In contrast, only 33% of women were involved with hiring decisions in 2023.7
Another plus is that the representation of women in some leadership positions is increasing. For example, the number of female CISOs increased from 13% in 2021 to 16% in 2023.10 On the flip side, women CISOs only have an average tenure of 3.8 years, compared to 5.4 years for male CISOs.10 This 19-month tenure gap can disrupt women’s careers and also reduce their potential for career and pay growth. More importantly, it can also have a significant strategic impact on organizations. With a revolving door of CISOs, firms may struggle to identify and address blind spots in cybersecurity, increasing their cyber risk and vulnerability to security incidents.
Women in cybersecurity: some silver linings
Despite the overall gender disparity in cybersecurity, all is not doom and gloom. In some regions and industries, the disparity is lower, indicating that they offer more opportunities to women and are more open to getting women into cybersecurity roles.
For example, according to GCF, women constitute 25.4% and 24.8% of cybersecurity teams in digitally mature regions, i.e., the Americas and Asia Pacific.2 These numbers are higher than the global average of 24%.2 Industry maturity also plays a role in determining women’s participation rates in cybersecurity. Thus, in telecommunications and technology, women make up 26% of the cybersecurity workforce, while they make up 25% of the workforce in healthcare and financial services.2 Similarly, security teams working in cloud services, construction, and security software/hardware development report the highest percentage of women team members, at 27%, 27%, and 25%, respectively.9
In recent years, more young women have entered the global cybersecurity workforce. In 2023 for instance, 26% of women in cybersecurity roles were under 30 and 25% were aged 30-34.7 Furthermore, more women (30%) than men (22%) reported that their teams had women team members. This finding indicates that women tend to work in companies that have a higher percentage of women on their security teams.7
Women’s participation in cybersecurity is expected to go up even more as more young people enter the profession. For example, Cybersecurity Ventures, a cybersecurity research and publishing company, optimistically predicts that women will represent 30% of the workforce by 2025 and 35% by 2031.11
The future of women in cybersecurity
The World Economic Forum (WEF) identifies numerous factors contributing to the growing complexity of cyberspace: supply chain challenges, escalating geopolitical tensions, and the rapid adoption of emerging technologies like AI by cybercriminals.12 These headwinds are going nowhere. If anything, they are becoming stronger and making companies more susceptible to cyberattacks.
Organizations can reduce their cyber-risk and enhance their cyber-resilience by building skilled and inclusive cybersecurity workforces. And this is only possible by taking concrete steps to close the gender gap. By bringing more women into cybersecurity roles, firms will be able to address the persistent skills gap problem – and successfully defeat cybercriminals at their own game.
Frequently asked questions
Per a recent ISC2 study, women account for 22% of the global cybersecurity workforce.
Globally, women cybersecurity professionals earned $5,400 less on average than their male counterparts in 2023.
In 2024, 55% of women held managerial or higher cybersecurity positions in their organizations and 53% were hiring decision-makers; however, only 7% were in C-level positions.
Women CISOs have an average tenure of 3.8 years, 19 months less than male CISOs (5.4 years).
Sources
- ISC2 2025 Women’s Summit Highlights | From ISC2 in Mar 2025
- 2024 Cybersecurity Workforce Report | From GCF in 2024
- Global Demand for Cybersecurity Talent Continues to Cool | From LinkedIn in Jul 2024
- Cybersecurity Jobs Report | From Cybersecurity Ventures in Apr 2023
- Global Cybersecurity Workforce Prepares for an AI-Driven World | From ISC2 in 2024
- 2024 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study | From ISC2 in Oct 2024
- Women in Cybersecurity | From ISC2 in Apr 2024
- Cybersecurity Gender Pay Gap Analysis | From ACSMI in 2025
- Survey: Women Comprise 22% of the Cybersecurity Workforce | From ISC2 in Mar 2025
- The Pay Gap Isn’t The Only Problem For Women In CISO Roles | From Forrester in Mar 2023
- Women To Hold 30 Percent Of Cybersecurity Jobs Globally By 2025 | From Cybersecurity Ventures in Sep 2023
- Global Cybersecurity Outlook 2025 | From World Economic Forum in Jan 2025