I was glad to have the opportunity to address the Minister on International women's day regarding incentivising gender balance within academia and research posts at third level institutions. I believe it is important to give people opportunity to flourish in their field regardless of their sex or gender. I support the principles of equality of opportunity and egalitarianism. If women aspire to pursue a career in academia or in research they should be encouraged and supported in this. There should be no barriers to entering women in a world of academia and research and no glass ceiling either. I would however voice the note of caution about going too far down the road of social engineering, positive discrimination gender quotas and equality of outcome. We surely want talent to be selected on merit. It would be awful to have people regarded as a mere token or somebody there simply to fill a quota or somebody hired to allow an employer to virtual signal or somebody given a post because there is no financial incentive there for the employer or institution in question. Finally I want to acknowledge the brilliant work and both teaching and research by women at every level in every setting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dpkE2yf7Ye0&t=62s
