Competition to get girls into computing accepts boys who identify as female

A Government-run competition for girls has been accused of acting ‘unlawfully’ for allowing boys who identify as female to enter.

The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC)’s CyberFirst Girls competition is for “all female-identifying students” in Year 8 (ages 12 and 13).

CyberFirst Girls aims to encourage girls to pursue computer studies and was set up to counter concerns that, in the UK, just 17 per cent of cybersecurity jobs are filled by women.

Competition rules

The competition rules state: “All team members must identify as a girl”.

However, a spokesman for the NCSC commented that it keeps all programmes under review “to ensure they provide impact in helping to make the UK the safest place to live and work online”.

He added: “Over the past decade, the CyberFirst programme has reached more than 450,000 young people in an effort to foster a diverse and talented pipeline of cyber security professionals and we remain committed to expanding access to this vital sector.”

Equality law

Maya Forstater, Chief Executive of women’s rights group Sex Matters, wrote to the NCSC to request that the rules which breach equality law be “urgently amended”.

She stated: “Setting such eligibility criteria exposes the National Cyber Security Centre and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to the risk of legal action for unlawful discrimination, and for acting outside its statutory powers, procedural impropriety and irrational decision making.”

She demanded that the requirements be changed so that “entry is open only to (biological) girls – that is, people born female”.