Career women before women had careers

A new book tells of workplace pioneers like Catherine Walshe, an engineer of many firsts, says Colette Sheridan

CATHERINE Walshe, a Cork great-grandmother in her 80s, always knew she would study engineering. One of the case studies in a new book, Irish Women at Work: 1930-1960, Catherine says her father wanted her to be an engineer. It was fortuitous that Catherine had a profession: her husband died suddenly, leaving her with a young family.

Raised in Macroom, the eldest of four children, Catherine says her mother didn’t want her studying engineering. She feared for her daughter’s morals and wanted her to join the civil service.