Diversity and inclusion in the security industry is a topic where industry-specific and security-role-specific data lacks public availability. Historically, the security industry has not been especially diverse —particularly in roles of executive leadership and middle management. In Security’s annual Security Report, for example, a quick, non-scientific review of the security executives included in the rankings was made up of at least 81% male in 2020.
In general, according to McKinsey & Company’s often cited reports Why Diversity Matters (2015) and Delivering through Diversity (2017) progress in diversity and inclusion is being made, albeit slowly. McKinsey & Co. found that between 2015 and 2017, companies have increased average gender representation on their executive teams by two percentage points (to 14%) and ethnic and cultural diversity has increased by one percentage point (to 13%).