Dive Brief:

• Education, better marketing and advancement are the keys to attracting more women to careers in cybersecurity, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).
• Women currently make up 11% of the global cybersecurity workforce, according to the Women's Society of Cyberjutsu, while (ISC)² estimates that number slightly lower at 10%. Meanwhile, demand for cybersecurity talent is expected to grow to 6 million jobs globally by 2019, with an estimated 1.5 million of those jobs left unfilled, according to Cybersecurity Ventures.
• Companies can attract more women to cybersecurity by working with schools to help educate young women, marketing cybersecurity career opportunities more effectively and promoting more women so they can serve as role models, suggests SHRM.

Dive Insight:

Demand for cybersecurity jobs is rising, and women represent a huge labor pool that could easily be tapped to help change that. But experts say the tech industry has done a poor job in recruiting women and the perception of the industry has a great deal to do with that.

SHRM recommends companies better market positions to help change the perception that cybersecurity jobs are just for men.

But changing the current situation will also require parents and educators to do more to encourage girls to pursue technology subjects and careers too, such as encouraging them to pursue STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education.