India's security industry has embraced the language of diversity and inclusion, but women professionals continue to face significant barriers to advancement, according to the Women in Security Survey (WISS) 2026 released by IIRIS Consulting in partnership with the CII Centre for Women Leadership.
The survey, which drew responses from 730 professionals across the sector, highlights what it describes as a growing accountability gap, a disconnect between the inclusive policies organisations claim to have adopted and the realities experienced by women at the workplace.
The findings reveal that 84.5 per cent of respondents believe women remain underrepresented across security functions, despite a large majority of organisations reporting diversity-friendly measures. According to the survey, 92.7 per cent of organisations offer flexible work arrangements, 91.2 per cent conduct unconscious bias training, 90.7 per cent have gender-neutral policy frameworks, and 89.6 per cent report formal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) policies.
Yet, the workplace experience tells a different story. Nearly three-fourths of respondents, 74 per cent, said they had either experienced or witnessed gender-based discrimination.
"The presence of an accountability gap represents the difference between what organisations say they are doing and what employees and professionals continue to experience," the report noted.
Questioning whether organisations are focusing more on compliance than outcomes, Sagarika Chakraborty, Chief Executive Officer of IIRIS Consulting, said companies often celebrate policy adoption without adequately measuring their impact. "Is the takeaway here that my organisation is doing everything right by the book, and so it does not matter what the outcomes are?" she asked.
The report also points to a fragile leadership pipeline for women. While women account for 43.4 per cent of respondents in mid-level management and 31.2 per cent in senior management roles, their representation drops sharply at the highest levels, with only 1.4 per cent occupying C-suite or executive leadership positions.
According to Shivani Kumar, Executive Director of the CII Centre for Women Leadership, the focus of many organisations remains on recruitment rather than retention and career progression. "Industries are trying to find solutions to get women in, but not for those who want to move ahead," she said, adding that a separate set of interventions is needed to support long-term growth and leadership development.
Mentorship emerged as a key concern. Nearly 45.2 per cent of respondents identified mentorship as the single most important intervention for career advancement. However, both experts argued that mentorship programmes often lack depth and consistency.
"True mentorship is about creating safe spaces," Chakraborty said, stressing that meaningful engagement with employees is essential to understanding the challenges women face.
The survey also found that women are increasingly recognised for their strengths in crisis response, negotiation, stakeholder management, intelligence analysis and risk assessment. However, that recognition has not translated into proportional representation in leadership roles.
Chakraborty noted that women are frequently associated with roles involving culture, diversity and emotional labour, even when they possess skills suited for operational and strategic positions.
Calling for a shift beyond policy announcements, Kumar said organisations must focus on embedding inclusion into workplace culture. "Policy is simply the starting line. Transforming a policy into culture is the real challenge," she said.
The report concludes that unless organisations move beyond measuring policy adoption and begin evaluating outcomes, gender diversity in India's security sector will remain more aspirational than achieved.
