IN PICTURES: On International Women's Day, we look back at women and the workplace
During the two world wars, women took the place of the men who had gone off to fight, becoming mechanics, ambulance drivers and factory workers. Following the Second World War, more and more women went to work. By 1965, more than half of women of working age were in employment, although women’s wages were still lower than their male counterparts, and a marriage bar prohibited married women from working. In the Civil Service, for example, the marriage bar was enforced until as late as 1973 for the foreign service.