We need role models

by | May 20th, 2016

 

Women have the necessary skills to transform the cybersecurity sector for the better.
Women have the necessary skills to transform the cybersecurity sector for the better.

Consider these facts…women make up over 50% of the current workforce, and outnumber males in attaining college degrees. However, only about 26% of STEM positions are held by women, and even worse, only about 11-13% of the workforce in cybersecurity are women.  There are numerous documented reasons for the paucity of females in STEM/IT/Cyber, and there are many suggestions as to how this imbalance can be dealt with.

One of the suggestions is to highlight women that have been successful and use them as role models for those making their way through our learning institutions to emulate.  What follows is a list of female corporate executives that have made it to the top of the ladder, many in the tech industries. Granted, the list isn’t as long as it should be, but it does demonstrate to the up and coming that with perseverance, anything is possible.

Mary Barra General Motors
Meg Whitman Hewlett-Packard
Virginia Rometty IBM
Indra K. Nooyi PepsiCo, Inc.
Marillyn Hewson Lockheed Martin
Safra A. Catz Oracle
Irene B. Rosenfeld Mondelēz International
Phebe Novakovic General Dynamics
Carol Meyrowitz The TJX Companies, Inc.
Lynn Good Duke Energy
Ursula M. Burns Xerox Corporation
Deanna M. Mulligan Guardian Life Insurance Company of America
Barbara Rentler Ross Stores
Debra L. Reed Sempra Energy
Kimberly Lubel CST Brands
Sheri S. McCoy Avon Products Inc.
Susan M. Cameron Reynolds American
Denise M. Morrison Campbell Soup
Kathleen Mazzarella Graybar Electric
Ilene Gordon Ingredion
Lisa Su Advanced Micro Devices
Jacqueline C. Hinman CH2M Hill

Learn more about Women and Minorities in Cybersecurity at the National Cybersecurity Institute.

List retrieved from the Internet at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_women_CEOs_of_Fortune_500_companies