Professor James O'Higgins Norman:

Policy and laws frame a space in which we exist. For example, the introduction of the Equal Status Acts and related legislation around that sends a message out to society that we should not discriminate against people on certain grounds, but it also has a ripple effect and it has an effect in terms of thinking about their behaviour. That kind of legislation, set alongside education, can have a very positive effect. However, there is still not enough going on in our education system. I do not know if the generation coming out of school today will be any better around these topics.

There is currently a revision of the RSE programme in schools that is being undertaken by the NCCA and I hope that revised RSE programme will seek to tackle these issues of toxic masculinity and restricted forms of femininity and so on, in a more direct way than we have in the past. That requires resourcing and education and training for teachers. Research tells us they are slow to deal with some of these topics in the classroom because they are not comfortable talking to kids about some of the issues that might come up in a classroom when dealing with these topics. Education certainly helps.