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Lack of gender diversity continues to plague the technology industry. Women are vastly underrepresented and under promoted in technology roles, hampering the industry’s effectiveness. According to a report by the organization ISACA, while eight in ten women report having a male supervisor and nine in ten women are concerned about the number of women in technology, only one in five organizations are very committed to hiring women in technology roles. These numbers are further exacerbated in application security where only eleven percent of the workforce is women. These numbers only further exacerbate the problem at hand.
Young women do not consider security a viable career path when they do not see themselves represented in leadership and mentoring roles. In fact because of these gaps, qualified women are often left out of training, mentoring and speaking opportunities, hampering their professional growth. This issue is further pronounced in the field of information security, where diverse and creative talent is needed the most.
In order to change the course of this industry’s hiring practices and provide a bright future for anyone who wishes to accept the challenge, we need to come together in a massive way. The only way to address the situation is by concentrated mentoring, training, and recruitment of qualified women. To address that we are inviting meetups, nonprofits and commercial businesses alike to show the technology communities in San Francisco and Boston where together we can make a difference. Our goal is to eventually expand our regional presence and host a DoS Conference or DoS Presents event in cities like Seattle, Los Angeles, Sacramento, New York, and Pittsburg. For one day, we can stand united and help change direction not only for the future of the technology industry in these great cities, but also for the potential future careers of two to four hundred women in technology at each DoS event. Our goal is for every participant to walk away with a clear understanding of and direct hands-on exposure to what is actually involved in the information security & cybersecurity industry, what skills they will need to build to transition into this field and the resources and disciplines to pursue to make this professional leap forward a reality.
The Day of Shecurity is a free-to-attend one-day hands-on conference which originally launched in 2017 in San Francisco for women in technology interested in cybersecurity. Day of Shecurity is planning regional events which started with San Francisco 2018, is continuing with Boston 2019, and more cities will be selected soon! The event is a joint headlining effort by the Lookout Diversity Steering Committee, Brainbabe and OWASP. Additionally, local area non-profit and special interest groups are invited to participate. If you are interested in having a Day of Shecurity event in your region, please reach out to us.