About Us

The non-governmental association “Women4Cyber Montenegro” was founded as a representative of Women4Cyber Marie Kert – Saint Aubyn Foundation (W4C) a non-profit European organization based in Brussels (Kingdom of Belgium), which was founded in 2019 by the European Cybersecurity Organization (ECSO) and Guardtime with the aim of raising awareness towards a gender inclusive cybersecurity community.

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W4C focuses on promoting and encouraging the development of cybersecurity capacities in line with national and EU policies, while affirming the participation of women in research, innovation (R&I), the labour market in the field of cybersecurity. The organization is a partner of many European organizations and supported by numerous private companies including Microsoft, NortonLifeLock, Austrian Standards, Proximus Enterprise, Cisco Partner and others. More information available on the following link.

Raising awareness of cybersecurity at the national level is one of the essential prerequisites for creating a stimulating environment for continuous economic development and digital transformation.

When it comes to the cybersecurity job market, there is a pronounced disparity in representation and earnings between men and women.

Traditionally, the cybersecurity industry has been dominated by men, but recently there is an ever-growing perception that there is a demand for greater diversity and inclusion, particularly greater representation of women.

However, women are still underrepresented in cybersecurity, with recent studies showing that women make up only one quarter (24%) of the total workforce in this field. In general, this is even more pronounced in developing countries.

In the economies of the Western Balkans, inadequate participation of women in politics and decision-making, gender stereotypes and discrimination against women in the labour market are recognized by civil society organizations as critical issues of gender inequality.

According to the report of the Global Index of Gender Equality, Montenegro achieved 55 out of 100 points, which is a lower score than the EU average of 67.4.

The gap in the cybersecurity industry is estimated to widen further as an implication of the perceived job gap between the level of digital literacy between men and women.

The marginalization and underutilization of women’s competencies is a relevant business area that causes concern and is an obstacle to the creation of more stable and resilient economies. This disparity has negative implications not only for the lack of cybersecurity experts who are in short supply globally, but also affects the gender imbalance in other industries.

In addition, female Internet users are often more susceptible to certain forms of cybercrime, from cyberbullying to revenge pornography, blackmail with images/videos/letters, stalking – all the way to human trafficking.

Therefore, there is a clear need to address these challenges, including projects to encourage more women to pursue a career in cybersecurity, as well as measures dedicated to providing education and assistance to women currently employed in the sector.

Increasing the number of women in cybersecurity has numerous benefits. With increased participation of women, organizations can strive to make their environment more equitable by encouraging diversity and ensuring equal opportunities for all employees. This is also indicated by research by the World Economic Forum, which shows that companies with gender-diverse leadership have higher operating margins and make better business decisions. Women contribute to the expansion of perspectives and diversity of skills in this area so that the greater participation of women in cybersecurity consequently leads to the mitigation of the gender gap in digitization in general and better opportunities for advancement in the ICT industry.

Implementation of activities in cooperation with W4C local/national branches aimed at the development and promotion of educational programs in the inherently complex field of cybersecurity;

Support existing efforts at the national and European level in order to raise awareness of the development of competences in the field of cybersecurity;

Promotion of national initiatives in terms of capacity building in the field of cyber resilience in line with EU and NATO standards;

Establishing partnerships and information exchange with international organizations and other relevant stakeholders around the world who share the W4C goals and vision;

Implementation of policies and guidelines that encourage inclusivity, gender equality and greater participation of women in research and innovation (R&I) in the sphere of new technologies and cybersecurity (R&I) in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (with a focus on Goal 5: Achieving gender equality and empowerment of all women and girls);

Creation of surveys to collect statistical data on the level of employment and participation of women in the cybersecurity sector while formulating recommendations based on best practices.

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