Our research work is valuable because it normalizes the idea that women and specifically women of color contributed to code-breaking even in its earliest stages. Despite strides by contemporary historians to broaden and deepen how history is recorded, history is often still written from a white male cisgender perspective.
It is necessary to tell history from women’s perspectives so that everyone has a more diverse understanding of our past. If people today know that women were pioneers in this technological field, this has the power to inspire more women to pursue cybersecurity careers and therefore may lessen gender disparity and increase equal opportunities in the workforce.
According to the ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Report, women make up 24% percent of the cybersecurity workforce. If more women enter the field, diverse perspectives could generate new ways to solve cybersecurity problems and make the world a safer place.