International Women’s Day 2022: Women in Security
This year’s International Women’s Day theme is #BreakTheBias, encouraging men and women alike to call out incidents of gender bias, discrimination and stereotyping.
With only 9% of qualified security officers being women, and 84% of female security officers stating they feel like the security sector is dominated by men, this year’s theme is a fantastic opportunity to showcase some of the women working in security and breaking the bias that the sector is historically dominated by men.
Despite the low numbers of women working across the industry as a whole, it’s encouraging to note that this number is growing, and rapidly. More and more women are entering the industry and making their mark in the field.
This International Women’s Day, we are giving the spotlight to a selection of our female employees, showing how they are breaking the bias by excelling and evolving within their roles in the security industry, increasing female representation within the sector.
We spoke to a number of employees from across the business about how they view gender equality in the security field. Here’s what they had to say…
Up first is Abigail Roddy, Finance Director here at CDX. Her primary responsibility is to oversee all company finances. This includes financial planning, reporting, risk management and overseeing company credit control.
What has been your experience working in the security sector, which typically has less female representation?
“My personal experience has been extremely rewarding. I have attended networking events, online seminars, courses and taken advantage of advice from mentors. In my opinion, this has been crucial to expanding my understanding on the industry, building a strong foundation to be taken seriously within my role. I take pride in helping to represent women in a managerial role within this industry and hope to assist in inspiring women to feel more empowered when working in traditionally “male dominated” environments.”
Do you think it’s important to have a better balance of female representation?
“Of course! Having women in leadership roles is more important than ever. The security sector must attract more women to unlock potential and development from a balanced perspective.”
How have you seen the industry change?
“From my perspective, I would definitely say that women are gradually making their way into the security industry, a traditionally highly male-oriented profession. Ten years ago, women in this industry were non-existent, now you’ll see the number of women in security growing exponentially.”
Up next is Paula White, Control Room Operator. Within her role, Paula is accountable to the control room supervisor for the scheduling of security officers, monitoring check calls, responding to telephone and email queries alongside a variety of administration duties.
Do you think it’s important to have a better balance of female representation?
“Having both women and men in your teams means you benefit from the different points of view and approaches that come from different life experiences. A multiplicity of perspectives can spark creativity and innovation and help organisations spot and seize new opportunities. It can also encourage organisations to challenge gender stereotypes.”
How have you seen the industry change?
“Traditionally, women have struggled to integrate fully into the security industry because many posts in law enforcement were traditionally held by men. It’s great to see that we are gradually making our way into this highly male-oriented profession.”
What piece of advice would you give your younger self?
“If at first you don’t succeed try and try again”
Next, we spoke to Ewa Nejman who works at CDX as our Executive Assistant, but formerly worked as a security officer and alarm response driver. Ewa is involved with complex areas of the business, predominantly dealing with the admin side of our operation, but also uses her experience to get involved in supporting the teams on the ground.
What has been your experience working in the security sector, which typically has less female representation?
“Some of the gender stereotypes I’ve faced have proven challenging at times, but determination and drive for success have helped me break through them.”
How have you seen the industry change?
“With security-based jobs traditionally being a male-oriented profession many years ago, it is great to see that the security industry is rapidly adapting to becoming more welcoming to women, which promotes positive change in the industry as a whole and makes it more accessible to the right talent, irrelevant of gender.”
What further changes would you like to see within the industry?
“I would like for industry leaders to recognise women’s courage, problem solving abilities, thorough commitment and leadership skills and to let them use these skills to help them develop and blossom into a valuable asset within businesses.”
What piece of advice would you give your younger self?
“Speak up, do not let obstacles scare you, pursue every opportunity given and if it does not exist – create it yourself.”
Last, but by no means least, we’ve got Mia Davies, Screening and Compliance Coordinator here at CDX. Mia works within the HR/ Recruitment team, ensuring compliance guidelines are met within the on-boarding process of new applicants and gathering employment and financial history data for vetting screenings.
Do you think it’s important to have a better balance of female representation?
“I think it’s important to have a better balance of female representation in any industry as both men and women bring their own ideas and opinions to the table.”
What further changes would you like to see within the industry?
“I would like to see further encouragement of female officers to be out on the field.”
What piece of advice would you give your younger self?
“Always believe in yourself, you can change anything you want and nothing is set in stone.”
It’s encouraging to hear our female employees’ view on the security industry, demonstrating the power and influence of women in the sector.
We understand that there is still much more to be done to support women working in security, and we’re incredibly proud of the females working at CDX to break down gender stereotypes and bring about positive change both within our industry and our business.
At CDX we’re proud to support the #BreakTheBias movement this International Women’s Day.
Find out some more about us and the whole CDX team.
