The Formation, Progress and Legacy of the Committee on the Employment of Married Women in the 1920s

Marriage bars were re-established by many employers following the end of the First World War. The 1919 Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act proved to be of no assistance as a restrictive interpretation meant that it did not prevent gender discrimination. Contemporaneous materials suggested that the re-imposition of marriage bars was meekly accepted by women. Other narratives depict feminist groups as doing little to resist due to division in their ranks. However, this piece demonstrates by use of archival research how leading Equalitarian and Difference feminist groups both prioritized this issue and worked together to establish a Committee on the Employment of Married Women (‘CEMW’) in February 1922 to challenge marriage bars. This article investigates the work and progress of the CEMW, including how they drafted and developed the Married Women's (Employment) Bill, which was presented to Parliament in 1927. This research illustrates that although this legislation was unsuccessful, it was not because of division between feminist campaigning groups, but due to the methods and arguments used by powerful male opponents and the male domination of marriage in that period. Ultimately, the important work of the CEMW had an indirect impact, acting as a foundation for marriage bars being overturned in subsequent decades.