§ Mrs. McKayasked the Minister of Labour to what extent the marriage bar is still practised in commercial and industrial employment both in the public and private sector; and if he will publish details.
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§ Mr. GunterIn the public sector married women are not employed by the Scottish Police Forces and they are not recruited by the British Transport Police. The nationalised and the main independent airlines employ only single women as air hostesses, and in Scotland the banks usually retain married women only in a non-pensionable capacity. Over most of the private sector, policy is determined by individual employers, who are in no way bound to report their practice to me, but the employment service rarely encounters a marriage bar, and then only in places where there is a surplus of women workers, In general, employers encourage married women to remain at work and many are prepared to adjust conditions of service to make it easier for them to do so.