Addressing the Gender Gap in the Cybersecurity Agenda – Latin America and the Caribbean

Summary

The project increases awareness on the need for the inclusion of gender perspective into policies pertaining to cybersecurity in Latin America and the Caribbean through training, technical assistance, knowledge products and awareness raising activities.

Details

Aim

The main goal of this project is to increase awareness on the need for the inclusion of gender perspective into policies pertaining to cybersecurity that affect people from diverse gender identities and gender expressions from Latin America and the Caribbean to create a safe and inclusive environment online.

Context

The project builds on and follows up the gender initiative developed by the OAS Cybersecurity Program since 2020 with the intention to build and enhance:

• National capacities to respond to cybersecurity incidents with a gender perspective.
• Abilities by the public and private sector cybersecurity practitioners to identify the gender impacts of cybersecurity incidents in the Americas.
• Skills to identify the benefits of gender-inclusive and diverse cybersecurity workspaces.
• Gender-sensitive digital security skills and gender responsiveness of internet users regarding cyber threats against women and people with non-normative gender identities.
• Digital and professional skills of girls and young women to promote their incorporation into the cybersecurity workforce.

Outcomes

• Enhanced gender-sensitive and gender-responsive cybersecurity practices implemented by public and private sector practitioners in the Americas to create a safe and inclusive environment online.
• Increased knowledge and awareness of current gender gaps and biases in the cybersecurity sector that are obstacles for women entering the cybersecurity labour force.
• Increased regional awareness of the importance of cybersecurity for the lives of women, girls, and people with non-normative gender identities.
• Increased access to context-specific knowledge and tools for the public and cybersecurity practitioners on the characteristics and manifestations of gender-related cyber threats.

Outputs

• Gender-sensitive and context-specific training delivered on the gender dimensions of cybersecurity to organizations, corporations, public and private cybersecurity experts of the Americas.
• Technical assistance provided to OAS member states to identify the gender impacts of cybersecurity incidents as well as to collect gender and equality-disaggregated data throughout cybersecurity policy and practice.
• Knowledge products on digital security with a gender perspective produced.
• Awareness-raising initiatives for the general public on digital security with a gender perspective, including on prevention of online gender-based violence developed and delivered.
• Capacity-building initiatives to support the equality, equity and participation of women and girls in cybersecurity implemented.
• Recommendations to reduce gender inequality in the cybersecurity workforce of the Americas disseminated.

Activities

• Over the course of three years, the project will promote synchronized activities aimed at counteracting the root causes of gender inequality in the cybersecurity sector, including:
• Train public sector officials on gender impacts in cybersecurity operations as well as to identify unconscious gender biases.
• Collaborate in the development and/or review of national cybersecurity strategies to include gender and diversity components and formulate recommendations to the interested countries.
• Develop recommendations for the public, private and civil society sectors to create gender-inclusive cybersecurity workplaces.
• Conduct and publish research focused on the gender dimensions of cybersecurity, as well as research on women’s participation in technical assistance missions, National Incident Response Teams and in the Cyberspace, Confidence Building Measures Working Group to formulate recommendations.
• Develop and disseminate theoretical and practical materials and webinars on digital security with a gender perspective for the general public and cybersecurity practitioners.
• Support training for girls and young women in digital skills, cybersecurity career options and hard skills, including providing internship opportunities, hosting an annual Cyber Mentoring Fair, and creating a Women Cybersecurity Mentoring Circle.