Mandarins, Ministers and the Bar on Married Women

Until November 1966 clauses in the Public Service Act prevented married women from being permanent employees in the Commonwealth Public Service (or in State public services outside of NSW). Examination of National Archives records reveals that removal of the Marriage Bar was a much more complicated process than hitherto generally realised. Study of the stuttering and convoluted pursuit of its removal over an eight year period through two Inter-Departmental Committees, a Permanent Heads Committee, a Cabinet Committee and through three formal Submissions to Cabinet itself casts an interesting light on the interface between the varying goals of centralized public sector management and the political criteria and ambitions of its political masters. In this period before second wave feminism reached Australia organised labour had various axes to grind, often hidden, sometimes conflicting. At all times macroeconomic currents were at least as persuasive as social pre-conditioning.