'Losing' pension contributions due to mat leave in the 70s?

[SnippySnappy]

A relative tells me that in the late 1970s she effectively lost all of her workplace pension contributions she had made in her job thus far, when she left her job to start a family. Just... gone.
I'm surprised at this - surely pension contributions are protected? Or were things different in that time?
Just curious... AIBU to doubt her story, or were things really that grim?

No she’s right, that used to happen. There was a payment made in compensation (marriage gratuity) but it was much less.

You also lost your seniority on marriage - DM went from being DH’s senior (not his direct supervisor), to being three ranks below him in the civil service. And then had to leave altogether when she got pregnant.

Was it a final salary pension? What usually happened is that pension contributions were not paid during maternity leave. So the period that contributions were not made would be classed as non-pensionable. This means that her total pensionable service, used to calculate her deferred pension when she finally left the scheme/company service, would have been reduced to account for that non-pensionable period, thus resulting in a lower pension.

No, it was this sort of thing:

www.standard.co.uk/hp/front/wedding-gift-that-robbed-women-6342224.html