Women affected by Marriage Bar should have their pension entitlements fulfilled - Senator Timmy Dooley
Published on: 08 March 2023
Women affected by Marriage Bar should have their pension entitlements fulfilled - Senator Timmy Dooley
Senator Timmy Dooley has said that women who were historically affected by the Marriage bar should have their state pension entitlements fulfilled by the Government.
Government has today announced that a referendum on gender equality will be held as recommended by the Citizens’ Assembly on Gender Equality and the Special Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality.
The referendum will seek to enshrine gender equality in the constitution and remove the discrimination within the constitution which says that a woman’s place is in the home.
Senator Timmy Dooley believes this is an opportunity to go a step further regarding gender equality and to fulfil state pension entitlements for those women who were forced out of the workplace as a result of the marriage bar, which was removed in the 1970's.
Senator Dooley said: “The state forced women into the home previous to the 1970's through the Marriage bar. The referendum on gender equality is an important step forward however, the state can go further in taking action in favour of those affected by the marriage bar who lost out on their chance to contribute to society through work.
“A real step forward and redress for these women would be to give those women the full pension entitlements they would have received had they had the chance to be in the workplace. If we’re serious about gender equality we shouldn’t make it a token gesture and giving those women their full pension entitlements would be real action towards gender equality.”
ENDS
