Congresswoman says more women in Secret Service could prevent repeat of Colombian sex scandal

Washington - A Congresswoman, who is a member of the House of Representative, has called for including more women in the U.S. Secret Service to prevent it from future dishonour similar to the Colombian prostitution scandal.

"I can't help but think that there would be some progress if there was more diversity and if there were more women that were there," said Representative Carolyn Maloney, Democrat (New York), of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"When you have a diversity of people there, it brings more accountability. What you see is a lack of accountability in this, " she added.

Women make up about 25 percent of the agency's workforce, but only about 11 percent of agents and uniformed officers, said Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan.

That's significantly lower than the 19 percent of female special agents in the FBI, though higher than the 9.7 percent of special agents who are women in the Drug Enforcement Administration.

The Secret Service does not provide gender breakdowns on the agents assigned to presidential details, though women have been included on those assignments for years.

The agency has aggressively recruited women, targeting female-oriented career fairs and sending brochures to colleges.

"We all recognize that we want to get more women into the Secret Service," Donovan said.

But that wasn't easy even before the prostitution embarrassment in Colombia, which unfolded two weeks ago when a dispute over payment between a prostitute and Secret Service officer spilled into a hotel hallway.