Women in Security: A Thousand Word Picture

The newsletter was ready and everyone had signed off. The issue’s topic was to coincide with a campaign about getting more women into security leadership in the hospitality industry. The other contributors had written articles supporting the initiative and giving the weight of their observations and experiences, and it was time for me to begin finalizing the layout. 

Only, there was a problem. 

I work hard to get exactly the right image for everything I write or am responsible for  – the image has to be evocative, graphically interesting, and it has to convey and support the content of the article it accompanies. A tall order, sometimes. 

I searched all my image sources for keywords: “woman security,” “security officers women,” “hotel security woman,” et. al.

Nothing. 

In desperation, I enlarged my terms:

“professional women” “business women” “group of women”

What the search returned did not reflect any women I have ever worked with in the security and resiliency fields. One image showed a group of three women, and two of them were wearing suits that had the shoulders cut out. Their pose was flirtatious. Others were groupings where the women were sitting around a table and a man was standing and presenting. 

It’s About Representation and Accuracy

I thought about the symposium I had attended back in January of 2020 – my last trip before COVID sent the world home – and all the amazing women who had presented about soft target threat assessment and response. They ranged from active law enforcement to industry experts. Their demeanor and attire was professional while not in any way derivative of what a man would wear. The officer from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, who presented a detailed analysis of the Mandalay Bay/Route 91 Harvest Fest mass shooting incident, had an undeniable presence in her dark suit and bright blue blouse. They all conveyed the gravitas of their positions without hiding that they were women. 

I’ve been in the crisis and resiliency field for a long time, and since resiliency is so closely aligned with security, I’ve worked with so many amazing women who have established careers in security. True bad asses, all of them. Sharp, professional, thoughtful, insightful, and passionate about their work.

I wanted whatever images I found to do them proud and reflect who they were in their profession. 

I wanted pictures that were accurate to the women I’ve been lucky to work with. 

How Can We See Ourselves in an Incomplete Picture?

It might seem like a small thing – not being able to find an image to fit a blog post – but it speaks to a larger issue. Women have made tremendous strides in the security field. I’m a member of several professional organizations dedicated to women in security. It’s not as common for me to be the only woman in the room as it was ten years ago. But those strides are not as deep into the forest in the hospitality field, and that was the point of the campaign we were launching – to get more women into professional leadership positions. 

A piece of that is for women to see themselves taking those positions when they are at the very beginning of their careers. Young professional women are Millennials and Gen Z – they have come up with Instagram, TikTok, and SnapChat in the Age of the Selfie. More than any other generation before them, they are reached by the photograph. If they can’t see themselves in posts and job ads and recruitment endeavors as leaders, then we’re creating a block in how they imagine themselves growing in their careers. 

If this generation’s emphasis on the visual as a marker of identity does not strike a nerve with you, think about the Greatest Generation and the impact of the poster of Rosie the Riveter. 

Women deserve to see themselves represented aspirationally at the height of their careers by seeing images of powerful women in security leadership. We can’t keep leaving the frame blank, or worse, filled with images of men centered and prominent. 

But, What Can We Do?

It’s pretty simple, really. If you’re a woman at the height of your career, volunteer for a photo shoot. Get yourself in the image. If you’re someone who purchases ads or approves campaigns, request your creative agency include images of professional women in leadership roles. Ask for an image where a woman in an amazing suit is standing at the table explaining something to a group of men and women. Be deliberate in the images you pick for recruitment, blog posts, and ads and campaigns.

If you ask for those images, agencies and creatives will begin to source them. And then it won’t take me hours of searching to find a powerful woman to give young women in hospitality security some hope that there’s a leadership position out there for them to claim. 

Questions for Consideration

• When you prepare materials for a presentation, blog post, training guide, or recruitment ad do you consciously include pictures of women?
• Do you seek out images of women that are diverse in terms of age and ethnicity?
• If you are working with an agency do you request images of women that accurately represent the field of security?