A new study has claimed that the introduction of divorce led to an increase in female participation in the workforce. 
The study, carried out by University College Dublin, the Economic and Social Research Institute and Yale University, suggests that more women entered the workforce as they looked for a backup plan in case their marriages failed.
A “perceived risk” of marital breakdown led women to seek greater financial independence, the report, which surveyed 8,000 households, claims.
According to the study, the increase in female participation in the workplace came not from women already in the workforce doing more hours, but from women leaving the home to get into the workplace.
The study compared female participation in the workplace before and after the divorce referendum of 1995. It found that in 1995, 40 per cent of women susceptible to fears of divorce were in the workplace. By 2001, this had increased to 60 per cent.
By contrast, they found that among religious women, who were less susceptible to fear of their marriage breaking down, the rate of participation in the workplace had increased by only 10 per cent, from 35 per cent in 1995 to 45 per cent in 2001.
The researchers used the group of religious women as a control, to screen for factors such as tax incentives prompting women to enter the work force.
The researchers concluded that, while policy measures such as tax individualisation, and factors such as the increase in house prices had helped to drive up female participation in the workplace, divorce had also played a part.
Olivier Bargain, a UCD economics lecturer who headed the research, said that the rise in female participation in the labour force had meant that women’s free time had suffered, as they still did the lion’s share of housework and childminding.