Find in Library

Irish women architects are mostly a happy lot. Ireland is more considerate of its women now than it was in the past, with growing momentum in recent years to correct inequalities in Irish society. Irish women are well-educated, well-respected, and hold important positions in public life, albeit not in the numbers they should. The Irish struggle for equality is complex, and beyond the scope of this article, but the following facts provide a background sketch: the constitutional ‘marriage bar’ forbidding married women to work outside the home was lifted in 1973; free secondary education was introduced in 1967 and the first State-run co-educational school opened in 1972 (until that time many girls’ schools did not offer higher level mathematics or science subjects); the first woman president of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland (RIAI) was in 1996 and since then there have only been two more.