Louise O'Reilly (Dublin Fingal, Sinn Fein)
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It is about exposing kids to a range of options. I am conscious of the time. I am delighted that our witnesses this morning are 50-50 but that is not true of the industry and - the witnesses will know - it is not true of the area. There are a lot of very gendered stereotypes that relate to physics, science and STEM. Apart from having 50-50 representation at panels and for our witnesses, I am right to say it is gendered in its nature, I think. Is it getting better? I can see that it has improved but it is by degrees. Is it the witnesses' understanding that the gendered nature? That is before we even get to the class nature and everything else; we can park that for a minute. Is it the witnesses' understanding that this is improving to the point where we will see that kind of gender balance in a couple of years or in decades?