Accelerating Action This International Women’s Day
Every year, International Women’s Day serves as a powerful reminder of the progress women have made through the years—while also shining a light on the barriers that still prevent many women from reaching their full potential. In the tech industry, women still make up a small portion of the workforce. A McKinsey report found that women occupy only 22% of all tech roles across European companies, with even fewer women working similar jobs in India.
At Gen, we’re doing our part to change that. Studies show that the global cybersecurity workforce will need to grow by roughly 4 million more jobs to keep pace with industry expansion. We believe women can be an important part of addressing the talent shortage. Hiring qualified women in technical roles helps our company continue to make products and solutions that work for all the customers we serve. That’s why we partner with Czechitas, Women4Cyber and NASSCOM Foundation to deliver cybersecurity workforce training that increases access for women.
Expanding Women’s Access to Valuable Tech Training
One of our nonprofit partners is Czechitas, an organization in Czechia that operates several upskilling programs for women looking to embark on careers in IT. Its flagship program, the Czechitas Digital Academy, is a three-month intensive in programming, web development and data analysis, with more than 50% of graduates starting IT jobs within six months.
Gen donates to Czechitas’ Endowment Fund, which subsidizes women’s tuition costs, and our employees volunteer as teachers and mentors to program participants. The organization has reached more than 76,000 women through its training courses since its founding in 2014. In 2024 alone, our support helped Czechitas:
- Reach more than 4,200 students across Czechia,
- Deliver more than 4,100 hours of instruction, and
- Achieve a 94% satisfaction rate with Czechitas courses.
We also partner with Nasscom Foundation, an organization that leverages technology to digitally empower the marginalized communities in India. We are currently working together for a year-round initiative to equip underserved women in Telangana with IT skills, aiming to create pathways for entry-level employment opportunities in the industry.
We also partnered with Women4Cyber, pledging to help close the gender gap in Europe’s tech sector and train more women for success in cybersecurity fields. In 2024 alone, the Foundation mentored more than 800 women.
On March 4th, I had the pleasure of leading a panel for Women4Cyber in partnership with LinkedIn. I was joined by three women leaders from across Gen’s operations in France, Czechia and Romania. More than 100 Women4Cyber mentees and alumni attended the event, which focused on solutions to the unique challenges facing women in cybersecurity fields.
Helping Women in Our Communities
Gen sites around the world are also celebrating International Women’s Day, rallying support and raising awareness for women in need in offices around the world.
In Dublin, employees will welcome a speaker from the Rape Crisis Center and hear more about the organization’s work. Employees in Gen’s Chennai office will volunteer with Team Everest to inspire up to 60 college-aged women to explore careers in technology through mentoring.
WONDER, our women-focused employee community, will also host several #IAmRemarkable workshops that aim to celebrate the strengths of women team members and provide valuable opportunities for our employees to network and knowledge share. WONDER is one of the many ways we support women at Gen. For this and other initiatives, Newsweek recently named Gen as one of America’s Greatest Workplaces for Women 2025, based on metrics such as fair compensation, work-life balance and proactive management of workplace culture.
These efforts are part of Gen’s broader purpose to Power Digital Freedom through social impact. For more on our Cyber Safety education and training efforts, visit our latest Social Impact Report.
These grants were awarded from the Gen Foundation, a corporate advised fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation.
