A day of events promoting women in leadership roles and encouraging women to join up will be held by forces as part of the UN’s International Women’s Day.

People taking part represent all ranks and specialist roles in the service.

Director General of the National Crime Agency, Dame Lynne Owens, is taking part on an online webinar to explain career options that are available including cyber crime.

Later in the week, the Chief Constable of Gwent Police, Pam Kelly, will speak to civil servants about her role in policing and how she has pursued her goals in her career.

Frontline officers from the Metropolitan Police will be taking part in neighbourhood events including a webinar organised by Brent Council to support women who want to work in male-dominated professions.

Brent Council said: “There are some perceived myths surrounding women entering careers in many sectors of our workforce, including in the policing, tech and construction sectors. Our aim is to help remove those obstacles and tackle these misperceptions.”

The number of women in policing roles is still unbalanced. The last official data revealed 31% of officers are female and they mainly occupy roles in the lower ranks.

There are just nine female Chief Constables leading UK forces – the most recent appointment being Lucy D’Orsi at the British Transport Police.

But a significant number of women are taking on specialist roles.

The National Management Centre (NMC) is celebrating the wide variety of inspirational women working in the organisation.

Jennifer Roderick has been named in a Top 100 Women’s list on more than one occasion; she has travelled around the world with her career and now works as a Cyber Threat Intelligence Specialist.

She has previously worked in the Armed Forces preventing terrorist threats, served in Afghanistan, and has even worked as a Security Advisor for the White House. She is also a mentor for young women, travelling to primary schools and speaking to young girls about what a career in cyber is like.

She said: “I’ve got this distinct protective instinct in my life – I was born with this desire to serve and protect. To then be in the Threat Intelligence environment, especially in the NMC, I’ve just found my niche to be able to do this.”

“A lot of the technical roles in cyber involve following a trail or pattern, but with the Threat Intelligence the pattern can be very diverse and that’s the beauty of working as a Cyber Threat Intelligence Specialist.”

Olivia Dodding, joined the NMC in January this year as a Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst.

Prior to working at the NMC, she  worked as a Cyber Protect/Prevent Officer at Lancashire Constabulary and led the cyber volunteer’s programme, developing a cyber PCSO programme and managed to secure funding for VR headsets that could be used in the community to provide cyber advice.

She said: “I was the first woman to join the Cyber Crime Unit which felt a bit daunting, however, I was able to bring a different perspective to the team which contributed to the development of a strong, coordinated response to cybercrime in Lancashire.

“The National Management Centre is a very inclusive organisation and since joining, I have found contributing to the protection of UK Police Forces against cyber threats very rewarding. I have enjoyed learning about organisational values and identifying different opportunities to help further develop our service for law enforcement.”

Candice O’Halloran who is part of the Force Liaison Team, is bridging the gap between the technical teams and police forces.

She studied law and had worked within fraud teams in policing for several years when the opportunity to create a Cyber desk within her department emerged, she was the only woman to apply.

As part of her contribution to the day, she pointed to how gender balance brings better decision making.

“I find that women can be more risk averse. This may appear to be a weakness, but to the contrary, women are inherently in tune with associated risks and have a great deal of self-awareness; this is imperative in cyber security,” she said.

“We are more likely to be transparent around skills gaps and observant of the business/reputational risks resulting from decisions.”

With the focus on leadership this year, she said more women going for senior roles was critical to changing an organisation and its culture.

She said: “I once read somewhere that you need three women in a boardroom before you start to see a change in culture. One woman is a token, two is a minority but three changes the group dynamic, overall dialogue, and wider sway on stakeholders.

"Women naturally provide a strong moral compass in a competitive business environment, which can result in more diligent, fair decision making.”