International Day of Women and Girls in Science today, a day established by a decision of the General Assembly of ΟΗΕ to highlight the role women play in science and technology.
According to the United Nations Less than 30% of researchers worldwide are women and only 30% of women in higher education pursue studies in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).
Contributing to closing the inequality gap, the ESET Foundation promotes the role of women in science. 2021 marks the sixth annual “ESET Women in Cybersecurity” scholarship, an ESET initiative launched in USA in 2016 and which aims to help and encourage women who aspire to pursue a career in information security.
Last year, ESET celebrated this day with a presentation five unique women and their work in the IT field, from computer programmer Ada Lovelace in the mid-nineteenth century to Flickr co-founder Caterina Fake.
This year, as part of the celebration, ESET brings to light findings from a recent global Financial Technology Survey (FinTech) involving 10.000 people from the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia, Brazil and Japan. .
The survey was conducted among consumers and explores their attitudes towards financial technology and cyber security, particularly in relation to applications FinTech. The findings reveal some emerging contrasts between men and women in relation to the adoption of FinTech and cyber security.
Οι απάτες ηλεκτρονικού "ψαρέματος" είναι ένας από τους πιο συνηθισμένους τύπους επιθέσεων στον κυβερνοχώρο και οι περισσότεροι άνθρωποι έχουν λάβει email ηλεκτρονικού ψαρέματος σε κάποιο σημείο της ζωής τους, ανεξάρτητα από το αν το γνώριζαν ή όχι. Η έρευνα της ESET έδειξε ότι άνδρες και γυναίκες δήλωσαν εξίσου βέβαιοι για το ότι θα μπορούσαν να εντοπίσουν ένα ψεύτικο email, με το 70% των ανδρών να πιστεύουν ότι θα μπορούσαν σε σύγκριση με το 68% των γυναικών.
However, more men fully agreed that they could detect fake email, 30% vs. 23% of women, suggesting that there may be a slightly higher sense of security among men, regardless of whether that certainty is valid or not.
Regarding the use of applications FinTech, men and women had a lot in common. Nearly one-fifth (18%) of men use more than five FinTech applications / platforms compared to 15% of women. And while men were slightly more likely to test their technological skills, the gender differences were quite small.
However, the difference among those who agreed that there was sufficient information about the potential risks of FinTech applications was slightly larger, with half of men (50%) agreeing compared to 43% of women.
The survey also found that those who described themselves as "intermediate" (39%) or "advanced" (36%) were more likely to use more than five FinTech applications. , compared to those recorded as "baseline" (25%).
It is also worth noting that 55% of those who use more than five FinTech applications are men and 45% are women.
Some of the most interesting answers were given about their attitude towards cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin. While slightly more men than women have shown interest in cryptocurrencies and participated (19% vs. 12%) since the onset of the pandemic, there is no gender segregation for those who are interested but have not yet dealt with cryptocurrencies: this percentage is exactly 18 % for both men and women.
Although ESET research focuses on financial technology and cyber security, the small percentage difference between the sexes may shed light on the fact that most of the differences around women's apparent interest in technology stem from perceptions and prejudices rather than from the actual levels of interest in technology. Thus, lower rates of participation in science and technology among women are more likely to reflect false stereotypes and stereotypes of non-inclusion.
According to ESET, today serves as a reminder that we need to remove barriers that prevent those who could innovate from taking advantage of their potential. In other words: The greater the diversity in science and technology, the more innovative the ideas that will be born.
