Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I imagine though that pay alone is not the only tool we need to improve the gender balance in some sectors. I take Dr. Bambrick's point about predominantly female professions, though I do not like using the phrase, but professions that have a predominance of people of one gender, especially women, have lower pay and there is no doubt about that. I accept her point that if pay is improved, that will improve attractiveness but if the reverse was true, we would have more women in high-paying positions and that is not the case and, therefore, I imagine we need to have those apprenticeship and entry supports on both sides. Teaching, for example, is something that does not attract as many men as we would like to see. During the periods when there was very high unemployment especially, many men considered caring professions for the first time out of economic necessity but they found them hugely rewarding and found a real niche for themselves in that space because there were so few men there. Where personal care is required, often a man-on-man scenario was more comfortable than a female care assistant bathing a man or whatever. I found that really awakening because out of economic necessity they were applying for jobs they had never thought about before but if they had been supported and encouraged many of them would have seriously considered it. We need to look at some of the programmes that are available that Dr. Bambrick talks about to encourage female participation as we need have it on both sides, as such.