History of Social Care in the 20th Century Ireland

In this essay I will discuss the marriage bar in Ireland and how it influenced Ireland around the twentieth century and what it meant and how it managed to happen and what knock on affects of it.

The Marriage bar is to carry out and terminate women from their jobs once they are married or not hiring married women in a certain profession or job types. The practice was banned in the 1960’s as prejudice against women and discrimination in employment. This exercise of marriage bars started in teaching and office work in the late 1800’s to early 1900’s. In 1920 only a few of the married women were in teaching and secretarial positions. The situation however improved around the 1970’s when the percentage of married women in the work force improved. There was no economic explanation for this practice of “marriage bars”. Even though this practice could be warranted in times of depression when there was a lack of jobs, this practice continued even after the depression. (mba skool)

As Ireland's 860,000 or so working ladies set off every day, few are probably going to save an deliberation for how much life has changed since the marriage bar finished, 40 years prior. However a few insights on working ladies demonstrates exactly how much effect the marriage bar had on ladies. The censuses demonstrate the effects of this policy were obvious. A third of women were either working or available for work in 1936, but their chipping in fell in the next five censuses, to a low down of 27.3 per cent in 1971. (Duncan, 2013)

Tax-individualisation policy started by Charlie McCreevy, as minister for finance, at the start of the millennium transformed the system to be better for married couples where both spouses were earning over those where only one partner was working. The policy was plainly intended to boost the labour force in order to feed a young and hungry Celtic Tiger. In 1996, before tax individualisation, to some extent more than 500,000 women had jobs. By 2002 that number had amplified by more than a third, to 678,334 – the sole largest inter census leap in the amount of working women in the history of the State. Yet nowadays a married couple where both partners are working can earn up to €32,800 each while staying in the 20 per cent income-tax band. A couple where only one partner is earning will pay the marginal rate of 41 per cent on income above €41,800. (Duncan, 2013)

Likewise with that there was such a gap with the compensation it was being unfair towards ladies. Equity between genders is one of the key standards of EU law, and legislation for equivalent rights among women and men has existed since the all around beginning of the European Community. Actually the primary standard of equivalent pay for equivalent work was incorporated into the Treaty of Rome in 1957, and keeping in mind that extraordinary steps have been made in getting balance, holes still exist. The European Union is the main drive behind a few bits of vital Irish legislation that are narrowing those holes, covering territories like equal treatment while applying for a vocation, level with treatment at work, insurance of pregnant worker, protection of breastfeeding moms and rights to maternity and parental leave. Be that as it may, challenges stay in fields, for example, brutality against women, accommodating work and family life and gender balance in basic leadership and places of intensity. (EU Commision, 2019)

But Ireland was not the only country that was affected by the marriage bar it was also in many places in Europe and in other countries like England and Australia. One of the reasons why the marriage bar was accepted was because of catholism. As the marriage ban was up holding the gender idea that was imposed onto Ireland already and the state didn’t question it because how close of a relationship Ireland had with the Catholic Church. At this time for women the most important roles were nun mother and wife and with that they were looked at with pity and that a women would have to be selflessness. With that the ban stayed until 1958 and that time was the Catholic Church and the State were at their closet (J.Harford, 2009)

Even from a social construct point of view jobs were seen to be kept for men as they were seen as the solo provider for the majority of families a women would have been looked at after a man a women would have only been heard of making very little money on the side. Women’s work is most of the time seen to be in a caring role or a nurturing role for example a teacher or a nurse there is also some bad attitudes when it comes to women and when it is pointed out that they are losing opportunities in the work place and most jobs were unsuitable and women with children so there lesser chance of them getting a job. Another factor to it not being rejected was because there was no resistance by unions because women in the work place had none so they couldn’t really do anything about it in that way. Also a women would of got a lump sum when they got married so that was also a extra benefit that would have been impressed to them as it would free up more jobs for men.

Circles of social building of gender or as Connolly (2005) defines it ‘stickiness’ of the gender contract : Role of women’s organizations collectivizing and challenging the idealized image of the women’s citizenship as mother and wife. Laid the foundations for further changes to the status and identity of women in Irish society. They also wanted to support the rights of single and married women to employment in any field they were skilled

There are a lot of consequences of this marriage bar that still effect Ireland to this day as women are still being looked down as second class citizens and they are not being given the right opportunities in most cases in the work place and the jobs they could get after the ban were all low grade type of jobs.

Owen (2005:245, original emphasis) notes that the notion of retiring upon marriage ‘…was a particularly significant factor in limiting opportunities for all women. … the enforcement of a ban on married women had the effects of restricting women to lower grades work, and inhibited promotional opportunities on the basis that women might marry and therefore could not be relied upon.’

Also it has made women very dependent on the pension and without that they faced poverty. And with all that the inequality is still alive and well as there is still very big pay differences between men and women in most professions.

For example in Document of employment there is a list of terms and conditions as a officer in radio Eireann it is from 1947 and it shows that there is different rates of pay for a man and women for a man he would of got paid £650-£850 and if it’s a women they would of got paid £500-£700 that is a massive difference between the two for doing the same work and another apart of the contract is that if the women gets married but unequal pay is gone in some extreme instances it is still around. (RTE.ie, 2019)

Another effect would have been for teachers it had a knock affects for secondary school teachers even though the marriage bar was only supposed affect primary school teachers employment. Also that woman never really got the chance to be promoted when they worked into in the civil service and with that this had a impact on how the state was run with regards to the economy, health and welfare.

In conclusion from that I think that the marriage was a big failure as it had a big impact on the country and it put the country back a few years when it comes to equality in the work place. Also the women that stayed at home greatly increased and with the catholic were happy as they seen the women’s place in the home doing home duties. Now would more and more girls encouraged to go to school they are going onto to college and get qualified and getting high priority jobs and are starting to close the pay gap between men and women but it will be another while before things are seen as completely equal because some people will never change their point of view.