From 'Lady Clerks to CEO': A Biographical Narrative Exploration of the Challenges, Opportunities, and Educational Programmes for Female Bank Workers since the Lifting of the Irish Marriage Bar.

2023 marks the 50th Anniversary of the lifting of the Marriage Bar in Ireland. The Marriage Bar required that women leave particular jobs, on marriage. Though it only had a legislative basis in the civil service, the Bar was applied liberally across the public and private sector. This gender-based inequality owed much of its longevity to the pervasively Catholic Irish societal context.

A review of the literature outlines its central role in ensuring employment of the male breadwinner in the traditional nuclear family. Furthermore, the literature traces its establishment and its eventual abolition in 1973, owing much to Ireland’s joining the EEC.

However, there is a notable gap with regard to the voices of women detailing how the lifting of the Bar impacted their professional, and broader, lives.

The data collection protocol is grounded in inductive inquiry, interpretivism, and social constructivism.

By means of semi-structured interviews, the Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method (BNIM) is utilised to gather primary data.

There is a focus on thematic analysis, whereby common themes which emerge are coded using NVIVO. Secondary data, which include historical documents, media artefacts, and miscellaneous records in the public domain, offer insight into the socio-economic and historical context.

In this paper, the experiences of banking in Ireland are drawn out (individual and collective). Furthermore, the implications of the lifting of the Bar for women and leadership positions are investigated.

The paper concludes with potential contributions to current organisational research with regard to career mentoring and education.