Girls should be encouraged from an early age to aim for careers and roles that have traditionally been regarded as exclusively for men.
That’s the message from two local women today on what is International Women’s Day.
The day is being marked by a series of high profile events throughout the country.
The 7th World Congress on Women’s Mental Health is being held in Dublin and the Irish Cancer Society is highlighting the women fighting the disease,
The Irish Congress of Trade Unions is calling for a series of new and concrete measures to tackle what it says is the ongoing gender pay gap.
One woman who symbolises what International Women’s Day is all about is Una Parsons, who has just been appointed as the new head of the School of Engineering and Design at IT Sligo.
Not only is she a woman, she began her career as a toolmaking apprentice at the old Regional Technical College in Sligo, the predecessor of the IT.
She says engineering is one area where more women should become much more involved.
Meanwhile, another woman, the mayor of Sligo, Councillor Marie Casserly, says it’s also important that girls have role models to look up to:
