Female representation in security leadership roles examined

TechRepublic reports that only 17% of chief information security officers in Fortune 500 companies last year were women, with the low rates of female representation attributed to public scrutiny on CISOs following cybersecurity incidents. With successful women CISOs could encourage others to pursue the role, with women aspirants having higher odds of being recruited from another firm for the CISO role than their male peers, men had a higher likelihood of being sought to be the CISO at their current company, according to a report from the Accenture Cybersecurity Forum Womens Council. The report also noted the need for women to be more proactive in pursuing security leadership roles. Only 7% of female respondents reported having applied or been offered the CISO position at least four times, compared with 53% of males, said the report. Meanwhile, factors related to current role satisfaction and other professional goals were "very important" or "most important" to female respondents' refusal to accept CISO roles.