by Claudia Segre for FIRST online.
Only 17 per cent of the 8 million ICT skilled workers in Europe are women. And with the shortage in the cybersecurity sector, there is an increasing demand for gender equality in the field. The examples of France and India.
More than a week would be the start of a new STEM era! In Europe only 17% of the 8 million workers specialised in ICT, hence jobs related to STEM skills, are women and only 7% employed in cybersecurity. Italy ranks 25th out of 27 countries on gender equality in digital with 23.4% of female ICT graduates and only 6% in cybersecurity.
Considering that in 2023 we suffered 10% of cyber attacks globally, and our GDP is only 2% with 0.7% of the world’s population, being the eighth country in terms of economic damage from attacks with an average cost per data breach of USD 3.6 ml should give us pause for thought.
Lack of cybersecurity specialists.
The numbers speak for themselves, and with 8 serious attacks a day acting as a multiplier of productive and social damage to companies and sensitive facilities, running for cover becomes essential, and the need for at least 100,000 cybersecurity specialists in the next three years, highlighted last year by Roberto Baldoni, director general of the Acn (the National Cybersecurity Agency), becomes a warning, an urgent need to be answered. But how? And above all, how can we arrive at an equitable participation and gender representation that guarantees neutrality in the application of artificial intelligence solutions and the construction of algorithms that limits the risks of perpetuating stereotypes and biases, more or less evident, and offers concrete answers to this effort to spread STEM and to involve the new generations, but not only them, in a digital revolution based on skills that will in any case impact 40% of global employment?
The French example: full maths!
An example of government commitment with a high intergenerational impact comes from France. In fact, it is now five years since a reform of school curricula was launched in France that has impacted all compulsory school curricula on two strands: that of skills and that of subjects to be taught with a special focus on mathematics and science, thus favouring an integrated teaching of STEM subjects that also includes interdisciplinary projects that start with computer science to help students better understand the evolution of the digital world. Between the lights and shadows in analysing the outcomes of this national plan, it should be remembered that in parallel, President Macron has been waging a battle for years to increase teachers’ salaries, starting from a base of 2,000 euros net per month as an unavoidable goal. This is another fundamental aspect to consolidate the action of the school system, that is through adequate remuneration that compensates the training efforts of teachers.
India also focuses on women in STEM.
Another important example of pro-activity on STEM comes from India, where PM Modi is betting on women to implement the specialised workforce with massive investments on campuses and training and retraining programmes to have at least “400,000 new female engineers per year” who together with other specialised workers will give a further boost to the country’s technological and productive development. It seems clear that investing massively in widespread training and education programmes: from universities to research institutes for training and education programmes that promote access and participation especially of women in STEM, is a first step that is already evident in Italian academia with excellences and initiatives that from South to North, also thanks to the PNRR funds, show a commitment aware of the opportunity offered by the digital revolution driven by generative AI.
Progress in Italy towards greater inclusion of women in STEM fields.
But this is not enough because also to address the gender gap in e-skills, highlighted by the European DESI index in Italy, there are numerous regional initiatives to support women and girls working or aspiring to work in the STEM fields, and also the emergence of local associations where women have organised themselves into networks and communities to share experiences, provide mutual support and promote women’s participation in the field. These networks provide networking, mentorship and professional development opportunities for women in STEM fields. Despite these efforts, there is still much work to be done to achieve full gender equality in the STEM field in Italy. However, the increasing attention on this issue and the commitment of organisations and institutions are leading to significant progress towards greater inclusion and participation of women in these disciplines.
And if it has been calculated that the costs of cybercrime will amount to USD 10 trillion by 2025 globally, the job and professional opportunities in the field of cyber security remain enormous and peculiar to lay the foundations for a STEM revolution alongside the ‘green and digital’ one that will benefit everyone and everyone by implementing social safety nets, in the country’s public infrastructure heavily targeted by cyber attacks.
Moreover, greater attention by increasing safeguards to protect the most vulnerable workers will create a virtuous circuit in a more digital world of work, certainly, but in a full sharing of social responsibility between the public and private sectors in being able to respond to the risks highlighted by cybersecurity.
