“I started university thinking I wanted to be the next All Blacks physio,” Mr Gopalan.

“I wanted to be doing physiotherapy for an elite sports team but that’s all I knew about what physiotherapy was, to be honest. When I first entered the course I thought it was all about working with healthy bodies, getting them active and returning to sport.”

But Mr Gopalan started working as a therapy assistant at an aged care home and everything changed.

“I really got to know a lot of wonderful elderly people and realised I was genuinely making a difference in their lives,” he said.

“From there I haven’t looked back. When I was working as a therapy assistant I got to meet and talk to a lot of elderly people and listen to their stories.

“I got to talk to people who were prisoners of war and I had a lady who watched the middle of the harbour bridge being connected. There have been wonderful things they’ve done to help shape the world as it is today.”

Mr Gopalan is now Wellness and Lifestyle Manager with Warrigal.

But he’s one of the few men in a field dominated by females.

“There’s a predominantly female cohort,” he said.

“If  you look at my team of eight or nine physios, up until about a few months ago, I was the only male.

“I think it’s definitely improving, there’s definitely a lot more males being interested in working with the elderly or in health. But it tends to be predominately female at this stage.”

The federal government’s Workplace Gender Equality Agency said there was still ideas in the community that some jobs were for men, while others were for women.

Agency director Libby Lyons said assigning gender to jobs could hamper Australia’s growth.

“If we are serious about being an innovation nation, we need to start improving gender diversity in industries that will be growth areas in the years to come,” Ms Lyons said.

“It’s time to reject the idea that certain types of work are better suited to women or men. A person’s gender is not an indicator of their ability or interest in a particular area.”

The agency has launched a campaign called women’s work/men’s work which highlights people working in “non-traditional” fields.

Mr Gopalan said he was keen to change men’s minds about working in aged care.

“While this is not the most glamorous aspect of physiotherapy, it is for me and for the others in this field, the most personally rewarding,” he said.

“I’ve had new graduates work under me and I said ‘give me a year’, and the ones that have they’ve been here ever since.”