Women in Cybersecurity: 22% of the Workforce

22%: cybersecurity is still far from gender-balanced

Just over one professional in five. According to ISC2, the world’s leading association of cybersecurity professionals, women make up only 22% of cybersecurity teams worldwide. In France, the share is even lower. Yet cybersecurity protects systems that everyone uses, and the sector is short of people. Where does this figure come from, why are there so few women, and how can that change?

Where does this figure come from?

The 22% figure comes from the “Women in Cybersecurity” series of analyses published by ISC2 in March 2025. It draws on ISC2’s annual survey, the Cybersecurity Workforce Study, carried out with Forrester among 15,852 cybersecurity professionals worldwide. On average, respondents report that women make up 22% of their security teams.

Behind this average, the gaps are wide:

• 16% of respondents work in a team with no women at all;
• 21% work in a team where women make up 10% or less;
• only 5% are part of a gender-balanced team.

This is not specific to one country. LinkedIn data cited by ISC2 puts the share of women in cybersecurity between 14.6% in Germany and 26.7% in Italy, with 18.3% in the United States and 17.9% in the United Kingdom. The Global Cybersecurity Forum puts it at 24%. Measurement methods differ, but the picture is the same: nowhere do women make up more than a quarter of the workforce.

What about France?

France lags behind the global average. According to the Observatory of Cybersecurity Professions run by ANSSI, the French national cybersecurity agency (2025 survey), women account for 15% of cybersecurity professionals, up from 11% in the 2021 survey. Progress is real but slow: at this pace, parity is still a long way off.

Why are there so few women in cybersecurity?

It is not a question of skills. The barriers appear much earlier, and elsewhere:

• stereotypes: the image of the lone hacker in a hoodie, in front of a black screen, does not appeal to everyone, and it does not reflect the reality of the job;
• career guidance: computer science courses, where many cybersecurity professionals come from, are themselves still male-dominated;
• a lack of role models: it is easier to picture yourself in a job when you see people like you doing it, even though women have played a key role in the history of the field;
• too narrow a view of the job: cybersecurity is often reduced to coding and hacking, when it also involves analysis, law, communication and crisis management.

Once in the job, women are no less satisfied than men: according to ISC2, 67% of women surveyed say they are satisfied with their cybersecurity job, compared with 66% of men.

Why cybersecurity needs every kind of profile

A sector short of people

According to ISC2, the world is short of around 4.8 million professionals to meet organisations’ cybersecurity needs. In France, the number of cybersecurity job offers rose by 49% in five years, according to the ANSSI Observatory as reported by France Travail, the French public employment service. Leaving out a large part of the population means leaving out just as much talent.

Systems used by everyone

Messaging apps, banking apps, medical records, online public services: the tools cybersecurity protects are used by the whole population. Teams with varied profiles find it easier to spot different uses, risks and blind spots. This is especially true for attacks that target people: according to Verizon’s Data Breach Investigations Report, 60% of data breaches involve the human element, and understanding behaviour then matters as much as mastering the technology.

Varied jobs, open to everyone

Analysis, investigation, crisis management, compliance: cybersecurity covers dozens of jobs, and they do not all call for the same profile. A few examples:

The qualities employers look for are often the same: curiosity, rigour, analytical skills, team spirit and composure. None of them has a gender. Missions, salaries, training: find detailed job profiles in our guide to cybersecurity jobs.

How to get started in cybersecurity

Good news: a five-year degree is not a must. According to the ANSSI Observatory, nearly 60% of cybersecurity job offers in France are not aimed only at candidates with a five-year degree (Bac+5). There are several ways in:

• after two years of higher education: the Bachelor Cybersecurity Specialist (Bac+3, RNCP42503 title), as a work-study or full-time programme;
• after a three-year degree: the Bac+5 Cybersecurity Manager (RNCP42939 title), as a work-study programme, for expert and management roles;
• for career changers and jobseekers: training programmes funded by the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Region, for network security technicians, governance, risk and compliance officers and SOC analysts (pages in French).

Work-study also lets you gain your first professional experience, with your training paid for by the company.

CSB.SCHOOL’s commitment to gender balance

Encouraging women to join cybersecurity is part of what we do. We took part in the Quinzaine de l’Emploi au Féminin, a women’s employment fortnight in Lyon, to present cybersecurity jobs (article in French). We also devoted a CSB Talks conference to diversity in cybersecurity, and our Fondation Cyber Pour Tous works to open the sector to everyone.

Frequently asked questions about women in cybersecurity

What share of the cybersecurity workforce is female?

Worldwide, women make up 22% of cybersecurity teams, according to ISC2 (2025). In France, they account for 15% of professionals in the sector, according to the ANSSI Observatory of Professions (2025).

Do you need to be a computer whizz to work in cybersecurity?

A technical foundation helps, and you can build it through training. But many jobs, such as governance, compliance, auditing or crisis management, rely as much on analysis, writing and communication as on technical skills.

Can you switch careers into cybersecurity?

Yes. Certified training programmes, often funded for jobseekers, prepare you for roles such as network security technician, SOC analyst or governance, risk and compliance officer.

Key takeaways

22%: the share of women in cybersecurity teams worldwide (ISC2, 2025). In France, it is 15% (ANSSI, 2025).

This low figure comes from stereotypes, career guidance and a lack of role models, not from a lack of skills.

Analysis, investigation, crisis management, compliance: cybersecurity jobs are varied, in demand, and open to everyone.

Further reading

Want to work in cybersecurity? CSB.SCHOOL, our cybersecurity school in Lyon, prepares students for cybersecurity jobs with a Bachelor and a Bac+5 Cybersecurity Manager programme, both available as work-study and SecNumEdu-labelled by ANSSI. Applications are open.

Read also:

• Skills, jobs and careers in cybersecurity
• Cybersecurity Courses: Where to Learn and What Skills to Develop?
• Find your work-study program