Interview: Tanya Spencer, head of Women in Security, ASIS Europe

a&s Adria: Dear Ms.Spencer, in the very beginning, thank you very much for your time and intention to answer few questions for the readers of our magazine. Would you be kind to tell us something more about your professional career to date? What droves a lady to build her professional career within security industry?

Tanya Spencer: I’ve owned TrainingSolutions, a risk, security and crisis management company, for over 11 years. During the early part of my career, I was a human rights monitor and conflict resolution trainer which meant I was working in quite dangerous locations yet none of the sending organizations had trained me in travel security. Along the way, I experienced security incidents like robbery but I just thought it was a part of working in such places. After I was interrogated in Pristina by the secret police in the late 1900s (this was before the Kosovo war had started so the police didn’t want me reporting on human rights violations), I was furious with my sending organization for not preparing me. After that, I developed security awareness courses. At the time, courses for travelers were focused on physical security whereas my courses were about analysis and awareness so I worked with several training agencies to integrate my approach. Even though having a background as a human rights monitor and conflict resolution trainer may seem quite far from the security industry, for me there has been a ‘red thread’ in my professional career which focuses on enabling people to live and work safely.

a&s Adria: What do you think women brings to the industry?

Tanya Spencer: It’s about diversity and the benefits that comes from having different perspectives.

a&s Adria: Your engagement within ASIS’s Women in Security Working Group, as well as its very existence is, shows us the existence of certain challenges that are imposed to women in security industry. What are the common challenges faced to women who choose to build their professional career in the security industry? 

Tanya Spencer: The challenges come in many shapes and forms. I’ve heard numerous stories from WiS members about clients paying women contractors less money and male colleagues being openly hostile and discriminatory. Meanwhile, there are many who claim these challenges do not exist therefore groups such as WiS should not exist.

In my position as the Strategic Lead for WiS in Europe, one of my challenges is the fact that many women security professionals don’t want to be defined by their gender so they avoid being associated with the WiS label. I completely understand as I felt the same way – I previously declined several opportunities to be more involved with WiS until I stopped seeing it as a somewhat negative label on myself and starting viewing it as an opportunity to improve ASIS through inclusion, representation, and better service for its members.

a&s Adria: It is possible to measure the number of women in security or measure growth trends? Can we talk about the figures representing women in security globally or we can only discuss an assumption based on experience? How many female professional members we have in ASIS to date? How many ASIS Chapters around the globe actually have a Women in Security Liaison?

Tanya Spencer: The defining element of my WiS European strategy is that all 24 European chapters will increase the number of women members by 1% and the same applies for leadership positions by Fall 2014. Part of my task is to establish benchmarks – right now not all the chapters have reported their baseline figures and future goals but it looks like women make up 10-15% of ASIS membership in Europe.

I can give antedotal examples for instance at the ASIS European conference in April 2014, out of nearly 600 attendees only 54 were women. In the Austrian chapter, the first woman joined a few months ago. In Europe, only about a third of the chapters have identified a WiS focal point who will champion WiS in their chapter.

a&s Adria: Whether these challenges differ with respect to cultural, traditional and developmental characteristics of certain areas and to the stage of industry development wholly? Can we say that the level of women integration in the security industry with a qualitative and quantitative point of fact, in a certain way says about the overall stage of development of this promising and rapidly growing industry?

Tanya Spencer: Part of the challenge is definitely that there are fewer women in this industry but part of it is recognizing that many women security professionals work in new/non-traditional branches such as IT security, bio-security, intelligence and NGOs. Part of my task is to support the chapters with ‘thinking out of the box’ by identifying and reaching out to these branches so that ASIS is more inclusive and reflective of the changing face of security.

a&s Adria: The group WIS, which was originally formed in 2009 with a few dozen members is being transferred from ASIS’s strategic operations department to its education department. What are the main program objectives of ASIS’s Women in Security Working Group and how are such program goals implemented in our real life? Does the implementation of these objectives have enough broad support and understanding of the industry? Can you tell us more about ASIS’s Women in Security Working Group, about its goals and objectives?

Tanya Spencer: The official mission statement is: “To provide support and assistance to women in the security industry as well as to inspire those interested in entering the security industry through tailored programming and mentoring. WIS will support and promote its global members by utilizing collaborated skills and talents to strengthen leadership abilities.”

For me, the membership statement “While the group’s benefits and programs are tailored for women, we encourage and welcome the participation of all ASIS members who are dedicated to the support of women in the security industry.” includes the important aspect that WiS membership is inclusive – it is for those who want to increase the numbers and impove the role of an underrepresented group. I truely believe that diversity will make ASIS a better network.

a&s Adria: The security industry continues to change and evolve and today security, both traditional and cyber, is one of the fastest growing sectors in the world. Thanks to the clients diversity in gender, ethnicity, religion, and race, and as such, it is now increasingly important to encourage more women into the security industry, to bridge the gender gap in what is generally perceived to be a male dominated industry. How to support the women in security industry systematically, especially when  talking about their assignments in the area of risk analysis, business continuity and training?  Can we say that the lack of female professionals in these positions actually just a reflection of the general lack of women in management positions in any other industry?

Tanya Spencer: The traditional career path into the security industry has been through the police or military. Women are underrepresented in those branches so it makes sense that there are fewer of them who then step into the security industry. However, increasingly, the career path is changing and opportunities are expanding. For example, security management courses are springing up all over the world therefore women and men can join this exciting industry through that channel.

a&s Adria: How has the increase in security education courses affected the new intake and next generation? What is it that we can do all together, as professionals and colleagues, in order to enable the women to feel comfortable in the industry?

Tanya Spencer: The career boosting elements are the same for men and women – Networking, mentoring, and recognition are all good starting points. Male colleagues do these things for each other so it is essential that they understand that if they identify a female colleague with a lot of potential then to ‘champion’ her in the same way that they would do for a male colleague – introduce her to the right people, mentor her to exploit career opportunities, and make sure her contributions are recognized.