Made in Dagenham, a film by Nigel Cole with Sally Hawkins, Rosamund Pike

25 October 2010

Made in Dagenham, trailer, is British filmmaker Nigel Cole’s dramatisation of events surrounding the 1968 strike by sewing machinists, all of who were women, at Ford Motor Company’s Dagenham assembly plant, in the east of London.

Angered after the motor vehicle manufacturer regraded their jobs as unskilled so they could be paid at the lowest possible rate, the women decided to strike for 24 hours. Their actions set in motion events that went on to pave the way for gender pay equity not only in Britain, but across much of the industrialised world.

Rita O’Grady (Sally Hawkins) a car seat upholstery machinist, lives quietly with her husband Eddie (Daniel Mays), also a Ford factory worker, and their two school-age children, in a modest apartment block near the assembly plant. Rita seems an unlikely leader or negotiator at first, after coming off second best in a confrontation with her son’s bullying teacher.

When her co-workers decide to contest the downgrading of their jobs skill classification, and demand pay equal to that of the male workers, and need a leader, Rita steps up to the plate. A meeting with the company’s management reveals the enormity of the task ahead of them though, everyone regards the concept of gender pay equity as completely alien.

While the women initially have the support of their male colleagues on the factory floor, loyalties fray as the machinists’ on-going industrial action starts to bite. This eventually results in the factory completely ceasing production, and all workers being locked out, which angers many of them.

Meanwhile Rita goes on the road drumming up support for their cause, and soon comes to the notice of the government’s straight-speaking employment minister Barbara Castle (Miranda Richardson), who intervenes in an effort to get the woman back to work. Rita also forms an unlikely friendship with Lisa Hopkins (Rosamund Pike), the wife of a Ford executive, who encourages her efforts.

Made in Dagenham is not a battle of the sexes story, but there is no missing the then male dominated senior ranks of both company and union management. While the prospect of equal pay for women seemed to be of alarm in terms of its cost for the company, union bosses appeared to be fearful of losing influence should the women succeed.

There are insights aplenty into the industrial bargaining process, the politics at play across the workshop floor, company management, and unions, not to mention private sector pressure on government ministers to achieve particular outcomes. But Made in Dagenham also explores the real meaning of gender equality, which is far more than equal pay only for men and women.

Although the portrayals of a number of the key characters here are fictitious, footage of the machinists actually involved in the 1968 strike, who speak about what happened during and after the strike, forms part of the closing credit roll. Needless to say the striking women had no idea just how far reaching the consequences of their actions would be.

Originally published Monday 25 October 2010, with subsequent revisions, updates to lapsed URLs, etc.