A top British spy has claimed that women, especially mothers, make great spies because of their ability to understand emotions and to multitask.
In an interview with The Times, the unnamed spy said being a mother meant it was also possible to draw sympathy from a range of different people who found her "less of a threat than a single female".
Her comments fly in the face of the glamorised image of spies put forth in movies like James Bond.
The woman, who works for the UK's Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), better known as MI6, said intelligence work was more about team work than charismatic lone heroes like Bond.
She also expressed frustration at the way female spies were shown on TV, as having some kind of personality disorder, like Carrie Mathison, the female CIA operative in the Homeland television series.
