Gill Massey, Funeral Director

Gill worked as Operations Manager for a medical company for fifteen years before she took redundancy and joined her family’s funeral undertaking business. Gill is often the first person a bereaved family will meet after the loss of a loved one. Being an undertaker can feel a lot like being a therapist. It requires a huge amount of compassion and empathy. Even though many of the situations families find themselves in might touch her personally, Gill has to remain professional at all times. In the beginning, she found the work difficult, but over the years she has discovered that being with people when they are at their most vulnerable, and helping them through the hardest days imaginable, is its own reward. Gill’s dream is to continue building a successful business, and to provide her children with opportunities for their future.

Historically in many countries, including in Ireland, women looked after the dead – washing, dressing and anointing bodies, and waking and lamenting at the graveside. But the professionalisation of the death care industry, from the late 19th century onwards, saw men assuming the role of undertakers. In 1970 only 5% of funeral directors in the US were women, but this is now changing: around 43% of US funeral directors today are women and, more significantly, so are 60% of students in US mortuary science schools. White Lady Funerals – with only female directors - is Australia’s fastest growing network of funeral homes, and in the UK and Ireland, the number of women in the industry is increasing.

Photo: Beta Bajgart