On September 1, International Women in Cyber Day recognizes the growing role women play in building safer, more equitable technology.
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On September 1, International Women in Cyber Day recognizes the growing role women play in building safer, more equitable technology. But real inclusion isn’t about hashtags, one-off initiatives, or the occasional inspirational panel. It’s about changing how organizations view leadership, talent, and accessibility, especially for women who also live with disabilities or neurodivergence.
What’s often missing is the intersectional perspective: women who face both gender and disability barriers. Their insights reveal that inclusion must extend beyond surface-level programs to address the structural, cultural, and attitudinal barriers that persist.
Rethinking “Inclusion”
The business world is saturated with phrases such as “inclusion,” “belonging,” and “equity.” Yet, as Kelsey Oates, an autistic entrepreneur who founded a digital platform for the intellectual disability community, explained, those words often mean little without action.
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The business world is saturated with phrases such as “inclusion,” “belonging,” and “equity.” Yet, as Kelsey Oates, an autistic entrepreneur who founded a digital platform for the intellectual disability community, explained, those words often mean little without action. She said getting her autism diagnosis at 24 was both a relief and a frustration. In college, a psychiatrist dismissed her concerns because she was funny, reinforcing the false stereotype that people with Asperger’s don’t have humor. Years later, she found support and mentorship through Massachusetts Advocates Standing Strong, which eventually led her to create Self-Advocacy Wins.
“This platform grew naturally out of my personal and professional experience with self-advocates as well as my love of tech and UX design,” Oates said. “I saw how many self-advocates were looking for community and connection, but they were hitting a lot of roadblocks with traditional apps.”
Her story underscores something often overlooked: accessibility isn’t an afterthought. It has to be built into the foundation of any product or workplace. That requires listening directly to the people who are most affected.
The Double Barrier of Gender and Disability
Women founders face steep hurdles, but women with disabilities encounter barriers that start before they even get in the room. Oates described how many women entrepreneurs impress investors, yet they cannot physically access the building due to steps, narrow elevators, or heavy doors. “There are so many accessibility challenges that most of us will never see or notice, but can stop another person right in her tracks,” she said.
She added that assumptions about intelligence based on speech or physical ability keep brilliant minds from being recognized. For her, the biggest challenges were the long hours expected of entrepreneurs and networking environments that were inaccessible. “Working in disability tech, not too many people are going to see the value in what I am doing,” she said. However, she remains committed to building a safe and accessible platform because, as she explained, “so many apps just care about the bottom line, but I only care about making a great community for people with IDD.”
This isn’t just personal conviction. It’s a lesson for leaders across sectors: if your systems exclude women with disabilities, you’re not practicing inclusion, you’re practicing convenience.
Inclusion in Cybersecurity: Beyond Hiring
Women now make up around 25% of the field, up from just 11% a decade ago. Still, the challenges remain less about recruitment and more about retention and visibility.
Ruth Okofu, an InfoSec Operations Engineer at Lastwall, has seen firsthand how underestimation can silence women in the field. “The issue is not just getting more women in the door, it is making sure they are seen and supported once they are there,” she said. For her, visibility and sponsorship into leadership roles are the true markers of change. “Thriving happens when women know they are positioned to lead, not just to participate.”
Isabel Castillo, a Lead Information Security Engineer also at Lastwall, echoed this point. She highlighted how bias shows up in hiring practices before women even step into an interview. “Multiple studies have shown that resumes with male names are favored over resumes with female names, already placing women at a major disadvantage,” she said, referencing studies on resume bias. Castillo argues for anonymizing resumes and structuring interviews so candidates are judged on skills rather than assumptions.
Her point matters for business beyond cyber. If we want inclusion to mean something, organizations must interrogate not only who they hire but how they assess and support talent once hired.
The Messages We Give Girls
When girls are praised for creativity but not problem-solving, or when compliments focus more on appearance than persistence, they internalize limitations.
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Bias begins long before the first job application. Okofu and Castillo both emphasized the importance of early childhood messages. When girls are praised for creativity but not problem-solving, or when compliments focus more on appearance than persistence, they internalize limitations. “If a 5-year-old girl already believes that boys are smarter than they are, then a field like cybersecurity seems unreachable,” Castillo said.
Okofu agreed, noting that encouragement and exposure to STEM activities can change the trajectory. “Encouragement, role models, and exposure to STEM activities build the confidence that they belong in technical spaces,” she said.
Educators play a role here, but so do parents and communities. Castillo described how she deliberately compliments her nieces on diligence and determination rather than looks, reminding them that their habits and intellect matter most. These small shifts accumulate into different beliefs about what is possible.
Inclusion Policies and Structural Change
Representation doesn’t grow in a vacuum. Policymakers, educators, and employers all influence the pipeline and the pathways available to women. Okofu emphasized the importance of pay equity, transparent promotion paths, and funding for programs that expose girls to cybersecurity. Castillo added that policymakers must confront their own biases, because rules written without self-awareness end up reinforcing stereotypes.
The lesson is clear: systemic change requires accountability. Businesses can’t outsource inclusion to a diversity officer or a single committee. It requires leaders at every level asking hard questions about whose voices are missing and what barriers remain.
Why Inclusion Is a Business Imperative
Research consistently shows that diverse teams outperform those without varied perspectives, and that inclusive workplaces are more innovative, especially in industries under pressure. Yet what Oates, Okofu, and Castillo remind us is that diversity isn’t just a statistic. It’s lived experience, access, and the ability to thrive.
Oates pointed to one of the most overlooked truths: disability inclusion is tied to economic equity. Many people with intellectual or developmental disabilities are forced into poverty because of the way government benefits are structured, as outlined by the Social Security Administration. As she explained, “having a disability is inherently political because we are so often at the mercy of our government and representatives.” For business leaders, that means inclusion requires both advocacy and awareness of the policies that shape employees’ lives outside the office.
Building Inclusion Beyond Comfort Zones
On International Women in Cyber Day, celebrating the women who’ve made progress matters. But celebrating alone isn’t enough. Change will come when business leaders stop treating inclusion as a buzzword and start treating it as a responsibility.
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Inclusion cannot be passive. It requires leaders to step outside familiar networks, rethink hiring processes, and listen to those whose voices are often absent. As Oates put it, “Business leaders cannot just include the people who are easy to include. To be a truly inclusive company, you have to go beyond your comfort zone and usual network to find people with disabilities and be flexible and creative in how you interview, evaluate, and eventually employ them.”
That lesson applies just as much in cybersecurity as it does in product design, venture capital, or education. It applies across industries and across identities.
On International Women in Cyber Day, celebrating the women who’ve made progress matters. But celebrating alone isn’t enough. Change will come when business leaders stop treating inclusion as a buzzword and start treating it as a responsibility.
Because when women, especially women with disabilities, are supported to lead, they don’t just bring inclusion and representation. They bring transformation.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jenniferpalumbo/2025/09/01/how-women-are-changing-what-inclusion-means-in-tech-and-beyond/
