Clodagh Finn: The silver tea set that tells story of Irish marriage bar

Mary Staunton's experience was shared by so many other women who felt shut out of public life during the five decades the marriage bar was in force

Karen Hoban with the tea-set given to her mother Mary Staunton by Mayo County Council, a wedding gift but also a (forced) retirement gift as married women could not return to their public-service jobs. Picture: Julien Behel.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but an object can tell the story of a lifetime.

The truth of that is evident as Karen Hoban talks about the silver-plated tea-set which was given to her mother by Mayo County Council when she got married in 1972. But there was nothing silver-plated about the harsh push out of her position that came with it, otherwise known as the marriage bar.