Women working in cybersecurity are earning up to $14,000 (£10,838) less every year than their male counterparts, according to new research from ISC2. 

The cybersecurity nonprofit has released the latest report in its #WomenInCyber series, examining the perspectives of women working in the security field to highlight gender disparity within the profession.

By analysing data from the latest Cybersecurity Workforce Study, ISC2 found that average cybersecurity salaries now reach $157,583 (£121,960), a 10% increase on the same figure from last year.

However, women working in cyber were found to earn considerably less, making an average of just $144,689 (£111,999).

Drilling down further, the data shows that women make less than men at similar professional levels, with a difference of around $9,000 (£6,966) between men and women at the mid- or advanced-level cybersecurity staff, and a $6,000 (£4,643) difference at the manager level. 

ISC2 did find that the gap decreases as the level of seniority increases, falling to a $2,000 (£1,548) difference at the director level. In real terms, this means that in these senior roles, women earn $173,645 (£134,389) to men’s $175,998 (£136,222).

From this, ISC2 suggests that although with seniority, organisations move far closer to achieving equal pay, inequality is still too prevalent across the board.

Based on the findings, ISC2 said that cyber-professionals, hiring managers and decision makers within organisations should look to conduct regular pay audits and collect more data from workforces to identify gender pay gaps and pinpoint inequalities.

Also recommended is the standardisation of job descriptions, criteria for promotions, and salary bands, with transparency in pay ranges being helpful to manage expectations and reduce the widening of pay gaps.

“Equal pay is arguably one of the most visible indicators of an equitable workplace,” concludes ISC2’s report.

“In achieving equal pay, it encourages greater opportunities for recruitment and retention of professionals, as well as helping to promote higher levels of job satisfaction overall.”

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Earlier findings from the Workforce Study show that gender disparity in cybersecurity does not end with pay.

According to the study, women account for just 22% of security teams on average, while 16% of respondents noted that their security teams contain no women at all.

Security professionals working in cloud services reported among the highest levels of women on their security teams (27%), closely followed by security software/hardware development (25%), while those working in education, healthcare, financial services, nonprofits and manufacturing all came in at 20%.

There are questions, however, surrounding just how much is being done to tackle the problem of gender diversity in tech, with a recent report from ISACA finding that just 41% of businesses have programmes in place to hire more women.