Empower Women in Cybersecurity: Turn Expertise into Opportunity

The persistent lack of gender diversity on cybersecurity conference stages remains a significant industry challenge, despite years of discussion and pledges for change. SheSpeaksCyber, a free and open directory launched by the Women4Cyber Foundation, directly tackles this issue by making female cybersecurity experts easily discoverable to event organizers globally. The initiative has set an ambitious target: achieving 50 percent female representation at cybersecurity events by the2030. We spoke with founder Erlend Andreas Gjære about the platform’s role as both a practical tool and a community movement designed to accelerate progress.

For more than ten years, the conference circuit has acknowledged the speaker diversity problem through panels and pledges. Why is a searchable directory the solution that will finally create momentum where public commitments have fallen short?

Progress is happening, but the pace is far too slow. There are millions of qualified women in cybersecurity today, so it’s both surprising and disappointing when event lineups fail to reflect this expertise. Organizers often claim they simply couldn’t find a female speaker for a specific topic. With SheSpeaksCyber providing direct access to these experts, such excuses become irrelevant. The Women4Cyber Foundation co-founders were previously fielding weekly manual requests for speaker recommendations. This platform automates that process, freeing up valuable time for other important work.

While women may constitute just over twenty percent of the overall cybersecurity workforce, that still translates to a vast pool of talent. The raw numbers prove there are more than enough female experts available for speaking roles at every event. SheSpeaksCyber is described as a movement, not just a directory. At what point does a simple UX tool begin to genuinely shift conference culture?

The community aspect is what transforms it. The directory itself is just a tool, its impact is realized by the people who use it. Since launching, we’ve received an outpouring of support from around the world, including from men and those who are not yet speakers or organizers. This convenience facilitates more effective conversations, which in turn helps change the culture. Expertise doesn’t always equate to visibility, and many experts, regardless of gender, hesitate to put themselves forward. By making the community more visible and peers more approachable, the directory can provide the spark someone needs to start speaking. Visibility on stage benefits individuals in their careers, inspires others, and helps shape the industry agenda. The directory aims to help more women reach that stage.

The 2030 goal for fifty percent representation is specific and measurable. What metrics are you currently tracking, and how does today’s baseline compare?

We launched the directory this January with a target of 1,000 published speaker profiles by 2027. We’re already in the hundreds for sign-ups. Even the act of drafting a speaker profile adds value for the individual. It’s early, but as speakers list their past talks on their profiles, we’ll be able to analyze progress using linked event program data. The infrastructure is ready; we’re building the content and counting on the network effect to drive growth. The site also features a feed for open calls for papers (CFPs). We aim to suggest relevant events to speakers and hope organizers will post their CFPs on the platform to receive speaker suggestions. We’re focusing on solving basic logistical hurdles to unlock the community’s full potential.

If SheSpeaksCyber achieves its 2030 target, how will that change whose voices define the most pressing cybersecurity problems at an industry level?

This question gets to the heart of why representation matters. Voices given a platform are heard by more people, it’s simple common sense. From personal experience, speaking engagements lead to exclusive networking opportunities, like speaker dinners, and help validate credentials through shared experiences. Peers build connections based on mutual respect that can lead to future collaboration. When we stop excluding thousands of experts from these circles because they are now visible on stage, security improves for everyone.

Your background involves making cybersecurity approachable for non-experts. This platform aims to get more women onto professional stages. Is the confidence gap you’re addressing a discovery problem, a credentialing issue, or a deeper structural challenge a directory alone can’t fix?

The broader IT and cybersecurity skills gap is a declared threat to societal safety and quality of life. We cannot fill the workforce skills gap without women. Our industry needs women for the unique perspectives they bring, ensuring the digital solutions we build and protect serve all of society equally. Equal pay is also at stake in this higher-paid field without equal representation. SheSpeaksCyber primarily solves the discovery part of the challenge, but I believe it can do more. We need concerted efforts from education through to visibility, confidence, and opportunity. Statistically, women in our industry are not the first to raise their hand when asked, yet their expertise is undeniable. If they are visible on SheSpeaksCyber, they are undoubtedly worth paying attention to.

(Source: HelpNet Security)