Things Irish Women Could Not Do in 1972

Image of cryng angel courtesy of Goran Horvat on PIxabay

When my best friend, Marygray and I were in Ireland the summer of 1972 we were surprised to learn all the things women were not allowed to do.

Here, according to my favorite Irish newspaper - Irish Central - are 10 things Irish women couldn’t do in the 70s:

1. Keep their civil service or bank jobs once they married

2. Sit on a jury (God forbid!)

3. Buy contraceptives (ever wonder why there were such large families back then?)

4. Drink in a pub (or if they were in one, they couldn’t have a pint of beer, only a half pint!)

5. Collect their children’s allowance (only their husbands were allowed to do so)

6. Own their own home (before 1976)

7. Get a restraining order against their partner

8. Refuse to have sex with their partner

9. Choose her official place of residence (if her husband moved, she had to as well)

10. Get the same pay as a man (now, we couldn’t have that, could we?)

We discovered these things when a bartender refused to serve me a pint of Guinness, and Paudie explained that in England and Ireland, that was the rule. Women could have two half pints, but not a pint. Same thing, people. Same thing!

Ladies, you’d better pray none of these things happen to us. In this day and age, you never know!