Ms Emer Neville:

It is young girls walking to a classroom and comments being made about their appearance. It is the little sexist jokes that women belong in the kitchen or asking what you are doing in the classroom for a men's subject. It is little things like that. They are all typically attached to societal stigma, such as women typically being carers or nurses and things like that. It is not just in a classroom setting. It is things like men do not cry - they need to be hard men and act and look a certain way to be a man in Irish society. If you are not playing Gaelic games, what are you? You are nothing. It is that idea that has been ingrained in young men that they should act and behave these ways in school. Obviously, that makes everyone uncomfortable. Teachers do not want to stop it because it is what they know but it also makes them uncomfortable to hear it. There is a fine line. Sometimes they might agree with the remarks, while at other times they do not know how to stop them. As Ms Exton stated, it is education that will fix it. In a classroom setting, it is typically jokes or comments, and sometimes even shoving people. At times, it can get physical. That is definitely a worst-case scenario but I have seen it happen. Ms Exton may have a different view.