NICOLA Sturgeon has said she hopes to leave a legacy that it is considered the norm for a woman to be First Minister.

She addressed a private girls school assembly and encouraged them to "be all they can be", saying they would find they could achieve whatever they set their heart on.

Ms Sturgeon gave the talk on gender quality and ambition to pupils at Craigholme School in Pollokshields and said she hopes by the time she leaves office it will be considered the norm for a woman to be First Minister.

During a question-and-answer session with senior pupils she told how ambition is good but should not blind people to the job in hand. She said Margaret Thatcher was a reason she was in politics but she hoped to achieve different outcomes to the late former Prime Minister.

She said "I remember Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister and in a strange way she was a motivation for me. It was to challenge her notion of society that I became involved.

"She was the first woman Prime Minister but as the first woman First Minister I hope it's not more than 20 years before we have another.

She was asked by S5 pupil Ailsa Henderson: "How long will it be before we can achieve gender equality in Scotland?"

She said hopefully by the time the younger pupils were adult women inequality would be "consigned to the dustbin of history".

She said: "People like me can lead by example. My cabinet is 50-50, men and women, and is a signal to others in business that they should do the same."

She said she has been asked if all the women in the cabinet are there on merit, adding: "No-one has asked if the men are there on merit."

She said: "If you see a company board with no equal representation that is when it is not on merit.

"Women are 50 per cent of the population so we should have 50 per cent representation. I want to challenge the attitudes which hold us back."

She told the girls of the additional burden she feels as a woman in the top job in Scottish politics.

S5 pupil Millie Steiger asked: "Do you feel extra pressure being the first female First Minister?"

Ms Sturgeon replied: "Yes, I do, no doubt about it.

"A number of women and girls have written to me and told me how much it means to them having a woman doing the top job. Anyone being the first to do something will feel pressure.

"I can leave a legacy that women doing the First Minister's job is a normal thing to do. I can help women everywhere understand if you work hard the sky's the limit."

She also answered questions on NHS privatisation, the New South Glasgow Hospital and university tuition fees. She told the pupils that as long as the SNP was in Government there would be no tuition fees, upfront or deferred.

She said she had benefited from a free education and therefore could not deny it to others.

The NHS was not perfect, but she said the principle of access to healthcare based on need and not ability to pay was what set it apart from others, stating: "The worst example is the USA where many people can't get treatment because they have no health insurance."