Intelligence/U.K.

Look to Mumsnet for new recruits, British intelligence agencies told

British intelligence agencies should use female-interest websites such as Mumsnet to advertise for new recruits, the UK parliamentary intelligence and security committee has recommended.

The committee’s report, published after an investigation into gender diversity in the domestic intelligence agency MI5, the overseas service MI6 and the surveillance organisation GCHQ, found that only 37% of 12,000 employees are women compared with 53% in the civil service. Of senior staff, women fill 38% of posts in the civil service compared with 19% in the intelligence agencies.