Gender diversity in the intelligence Agencies
STATEMENTS ON DIVERSITY FROM HEADS OF THE
THREE INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES
Diversity is a strategic priority for MI5 and I am committed to providing an
inclusive workplace, where everyone is valued for their contribution and
has the opportunity to reach their full potential. If this doesn’t include a
representative number of women MI5 will be missing out – something I
am not prepared to accept. Our efforts in recent years are paying off. We
are making progress against our targets for the Service as a whole and at
senior levels and feeder grades, and we now have four women at Board
level (three internal and one non-executive Director). I recently joined the
30% Club, an initiative aiming to get 30% women on FTSE Boards by
2015, which was recently extended to the public sector. We have also made
significant improvements in the support we offer those wishing to work
part-time or flexibly to balance work and caring responsibilities. Some of
this is challenging, but we have set this as a priority, not just because it’s the
right thing to do, but because we believe diversity at all levels contributes
to our objective of keeping the country safe.
Andrew Parker, Director General of MI5
We are proud of the progress SIS has made over the past three years in
our work on diversity and inclusion and, particularly, in gender equality.
Our innovative work in the areas of recruitment, internal appointments, HR
policies (especially maternity leave), unconscious bias, talent management
and career development have really begun to have an impact as more
women move into senior roles. We are committed to doing more to
encourage talented women from all backgrounds to join the Service,
stay to develop their careers, and progress into our leadership. We are
committed to creating a diverse SIS in every respect, as diversity strengthens
performance and brings a wider range of talent, skills and approaches to
our work. Our goal is a Service that reflects society, where our leadership
is representative of the Service as a whole, and where all our staff have the
confidence to flourish.
Joint statement: Alex Younger, Chief,
and Sir John Sawers, former Chief, SIS
GCHQ’s week-long Diversity Festival in May 2014 epitomises our strategic
approach on diversity and inclusion. This Department-wide engagement
featured prominent women from the fields of business, politics, academia
and sport, among them Dame Kelly Holmes and Chief Constable Suzette
Davenport, each of whom shared life stories about their own and others’
triumphs, challenges and experiences. We are in no doubt that this
event, deliberately celebratory in nature, significantly shifted mindsets
around an affirmative and exciting diversity narrative. Building on this, we
remain committed to attracting and developing a more gender-balanced
workforce. Four of the ten Board members are women (two internal and
two non-executive Directors).
Establishing a stronger female talent pipeline is a challenging area for us,
particularly given the current emphasis on technical recruitment, where we
are redoubling our efforts to appeal to the decreasing number of women in
the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) arena. We
have a vibrant and proactive Women’s Network with a refreshed strategy,
new guidance for the business on recruitment and selection, and we’re
continually improving our flexible working offer.
We are proud of the progress the Department has made to date in
recognising the power of diversity both in style and in approach – an area
where improved gender diversity is a powerful distinguishing factor. There
is of course much for us to do to translate our intent into the fabric of
GCHQ’s workforce, but we are confident we are on the right path.
Joint statement: Robert Hannigan, Director,
and Sir Iain Lobban, former Director, GCHQ
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