‘Some women had an awful life’: How the marriage bar affected women’s lives

The marriage bar put paid to the career of many women in permanent pensionable jobs, and its abolition for some meant that returning to work wasn’t worth it.

Maura Corcoran (nee Kelleher) and her husband Noel on their wedding day June 16, 1971. Maura worked as a shorthand typist with General Accident Insurance in Cork. Pictures: Sorcha Crowley

No one ever asked you if you liked your job back in 1973. 

“You had a job. What’s not to like?” says Bernie Flynn, recalling the holy grail of employment back then — a permanent, pensionable job in the civil service.