Hi All, I have found the posts very interesting to read. There certainly was a time when female teachers had to give up work once they married here in Australia & also in England, also any others who were employed by government departments also had to give up their jobs as soon as they married. It is not so long ago that the "woman's place is in the home" was the general belief of not only employers & the male population but also a large portion of the female population as well. There was a stigma attached to any man who had a wife working that he was seen as not capable of supporting her as he should, which meant that even if she could keep her job after marriage quite often her husband would demand that she quit anyway. I don't know much about when changes of attitudes & laws in USA happened but here are some for Australia, many in the not too distant past at all. Even with laws in place there is still today the attitude that a married woman is only marking time until she starts a family & isn't to be taken seriously as a career woman. 1883 Married Women's Property Act, South Australia: allowed married women to own and dispose of property. 1885 First woman graduate from Sydney University. 1890 Constance Stone become the first registered female doctor in Australia. She studied overseas as she had been refused entry to Melbourne University. 1894 South Australian women get the vote. 1902 White women gain the right to vote in Federal elections. Edna Evans graduated in law from Sydney University. She was not allowed to practice until 1918. 1907 Harvester case: Justice Higgins awards women 54% of male basic wage. 1912 Women doctors allowed to practice in a Sydney hospital. 1916 Testator's Family Maintenance and Guardianship Infants Act: widow's were allowed automatic guardianship of their children. 1921 Edith Cowan becomes the first woman in Parliament (West Australian Lower House). 1932 Married Women (Lecturers and Teachers) Act (NSW) Women had to resign from permanent teaching positions upon marriage. 220 women immediately dismissed from Dept of Public Instruction. 1943 Enid Lyons becomes the first woman elected to Federal Lower House of Parliament. 1947 Married Women (Lecturer's and Teachers) Act (NSW) repealed. 1950 Female basic wage set at 75 % of male wage. 1958 Concept of equal pay between the sexes to be implemented by 1963. 1961 Australian women get access to the Pill. 1965 Rona Mitchell becomes the first female Supreme Court judge. 1966 Bar on employment of married women as permanent employees in the Commonwealth Public Service lifted. 1967 A referendum is passed allowing Aboriginal women (and men to be citizens) = voting rights and Census. 1969 Concept of equal pay for equal work to be implemented by 1972. 1972 First rape crisis centre established. 1972 Equal pay for work of equal value to be phased in by 1975. 1973 Supporting Mother's Benefit introduced. 1974 National Wage Case sets an equal female minimum wage. 1975 International Women's Year. Family Law Act brings in 'no fault' divorce. 1976 Criminal Law Consolidation Act makes rape in marriage a criminal offence. 1979 Debra Wardley won the right to be employed as a pilot with Ansett in the Victorian Equal Opportunities Board. 1981 Pat O' Shane first Aboriginal barrister, becomes first woman to head a government department. 1984 Sex Discrimination Act passed by Federal Parliament. 1985 Australian Conciliation and Arbitration Commission affirmed equal pay case of 1972 but rejected the notion of comparable worth. 1987 Justice Mary Gaudron first woman appointed to the High Court. 1988 First female pilots in the RAAF graduated. 1990 Joan Kirner (Victoria) and Carmen Lawrence (West Australia) become first women state premiers. 1991 First female president of the Law Institute in its 132 history.