1
Closing the Gap: A Department of Defense (DoD) Conference on
Re-entry for Women Veterans into Cybersecurity Careers
Science and Technology Education STE21_53
October 7-8, 2021, FEUP, Porto Portugal
Callie Balut, Rachelle S. Heller, Costis Toregas and Taly Walsh
The George Washington University, Washington D.C.
Abstract
The cybersecurity workplace continues to show an imbalance based on gender, with 20-25%
ratios of women to total workforce being the norm rather than the exception. In order to create
pathways to bridge this gap, the authors organized a virtual conference focused on women
veterans. This invitation-only conference assembled leadership from research institutions,
organizations that employ cyber talent, government officials, and female military veterans. Three
dimensions were used to focus the discussion: the impact of gender on job, the differences
between military and civilian work environments, and the complexity of pathways to
cybersecurity content. The conference concluded with multiple recommendations to improve
opportunities for women veterans entering the cybersecurity workforce.
This paper describes the activities and results of a George Washington University DoD Cyber
Scholarship Program (CySP) capacity building project during the 2020-2021 academic year. In
particular, the report provides information about the conference held on “Closing the Gap: Re-
entry of Women Veterans into Cybersecurity Careers.”
Project Description
“Closing the Gap: A DoD Conference on Re-entry for Women Veterans into Cybersecurity
Careers” addressed the crucial need to fill the exponentially growing cybersecurity gap (whether
it is a talent gap of skilled cybersecurity workers or a gap in the time between jobs in the military
and the cyber-workforce), as well as to address the gender imbalance in the field. For the United
States to remain a world leader in various fields of science and technology, a robust and educated
cyber-workforce is required. The conference was designed as a one-day conference with pre-
conference briefing booklets for the participants and exploratory background white papers and
post-conference findings and publications—including a social media campaign. The briefing
booklets and one-day conference addressed three broad issues related to women and women
veterans who might consider reentering the workforce in one or more of many cybersecurity
areas: the gender issue, the transition from military to civilian workforce, and the substance of
cybersecurity education itself.
Project Innovation: Why is there a need for a focused conference?
In a series written for The Atlantic, Maples (2017) noted “I happen to be a woman. This is often
inconvenient. It was inconvenient for the military and, now that I’m out of the military, it’s still
inconvenient.” In multiple surveys and anecdotes, both women who are serving and women who
