Alison Whitney, a deputy director at GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), said that women felt their 'opinions aren't valued' due to a 'boy's club culture' in the tech sector

A 'boys' club' culture is undermining women and driving them out of the technology sector, a leader of Britain's intelligence centre has said.

Alison Whitney, a deputy director at GCHQ's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), told The Times that women felt their 'opinions aren't valued; that they can't speak out' and they feel isolated.

'It's also something to do with a kind of boys' own, clubbytype culture ... there's the sort of business that gets done over a pint in the afterwork scenario.'

She said that this 'clubbytype feel' makes many women feel uncomfortable and it is something that many men do not like either.

Only one-third of the 700 employees of the NCSC are women although Ms Whitney said that the organisation is actively working to change that.

GCHQ launched a CyberFirst girls competition which aimed to identify talented young female coders and the parenting website Mumsnet has previously been used to attract new recruits.

Ms Whitney believes that diversity is vital if the agency is to be fully effective.

She wants to attract different types of people, including women who want to return to work after having children, whom she described as an 'untapped' resource.

GCHQ in Cheltenham where Ms Whitney and government ministers want to attract more women to work at as they can bring new skills to the fight against threats at home and abroad

'It's all too easy to think that you recruit people at 21, 22, when they come out of university and that is the only option that is available to you. How shortsighted is that?' Whitney said.

She said that schoolgirls were unfairly criticised if they were 'geeky', and received no encouragement from teachers to join the industry which was a 'pretty damning indictment of society.'

Ms Whitney said that attracting different types of people to the GCHQ is important, and she said that women who want to return to work after having children are an 'untapped' resource

'Having worked in cyber security for over a decade I would recommend it to any woman hoping to make a positive impact on the world.

'As the leading technical authority on cyber issues, we want to do everything we can to break down any barriers preventing them from prospering in their career.

'The good news is there is a huge interest amongst young women – as shown by more than 8,000 teenage girls entering our CyberFirst Girls competition.

More than 8,000 teenage girls entered the GCHQ's CyberFirst Girls competition this year

At GCHQ, the government listening station based in Cheltenham, there is a Diversity Steering Group and a Women's Network.

The organisation said that current diversity statistics in science and technology are unacceptable.

A report this year by Frost and Sullivan estimated that for every woman working in cyber security globally, you will find nine men.

Around 40 per cent of women leave jobs in science in technology, twice the figure for men, and that one third cite the working environment as central to their decision.