An Oireachtas committee has heard an appeal for comprehensive monitoring of gender balance on-air to "drive change" in that area.
"If you have the data... that information will engender change, I have no doubt of that," said Roisin Duffy, Chair of Women on Air.
She told the Joint Committee on Gender Equality that, starting in 2016, the BBC set out to achieve gender equality on-air with its 50:50 Project.
The committee is continuing its consideration of a report from the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality, which examines leadership in politics, public life and the workplace.
"I think the collection of data... heightens consciousness for everybody," Ms Duffy said, noting that the BBC initiative had led to increases both in the numbers of female voices on-air and in audience share.
"What they looked at then became deeper and more interesting," she added. "It simply makes good sense."
"If you actually endorsed and put your shoulder behind, a proper year-long monitoring programme... how much change would than drive?" Ms Duffy asked.
Committee Chair and Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik noted that more women in the Seanad had resulted in a "significant difference in the culture", while Fianna Fáil TD Paul McAuliffe agreed that it had "broadened the discussion".
He suggested raising the monitoring programme with Minister for Equality Roderic O'Gorman.
Ms Duffy also told the committee that sometimes a "deep dive" was needed to identify female experts, particularly when "the man becomes the authoritative voice".
Gilian Harford, Country Executive, said that since the establishment of the 30% Club in 2015, the proportion of women on the boards of ISEQ firms had risen from 12.5% to 32%.
As a result, Ireland has climbed in EU rankings from seventeenth place to eleventh.
Independent Senator Mary Alice Higgins cautioned that good practice and peer support should not replace "harder regulatory measures" to increase female representation.
She questioned the emphasis on incremental progress in Ms Harford's opening statement, saying they have "waited a long, long, long time" for the progress seen to date.
Senator Higgins warned that Ms Harford's claim that "targets are preferable" to quotas might be counterproductive.
"We aren't saying quotas aren't an option. We are saying they are the last option," Ms Harford replied.
While quotas can be "a blunt instrument, we still think they're very important," Roisin Duffy said.
However, she warned that "tokenism is completely and utterly damaging".
