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SYNOPSIS
In 1968 women machinists at the Ford car factory in Dagenham, near London, vote to strike.
Ford has decided to give them less money, on the grounds that their work is unskilled.
Rita O’Grady becomes the leader of the women in their growing fight against the company.
Rita and the women have the support of the factory’s union rep, Albert, but other union bosses are opposed to the strike.
The women lose much of the support of the male workers when Ford closes the whole factory as a result of the women’s strike.
The problem becomes so serious that the UK government’s Employment Minister, Barbara Castle, arranges to meet Rita.
Despite threats that Ford will pull out of the UK, Castle agrees to most of the women’s demands, and promises to introduce laws that ensure pay equality between the sexes across the UK.
Made in Dagenham tells the story of real events at Ford’s Dagenham factory in 1968. The women went on strike to protest the fact that they were classed as unskilled workers. They were on strike for three weeks, and production at the factory –the biggest in the UK – came to a complete stop.
The problem was only resolved by the intervention of Employment Minister, Barbara Castle.
In 1970 the Equal Pay Act was brought in and it was now against the law to have different rates of pay for men and women.
Despite this law, the fight for complete equality still continues: in 2010 women working full-time in the UK earned on average 16.4% less per hour than men working full-time.
Although the film is based on real events, it is not completely accurate. There was no real Rita O’Grady – the writers based her character on several of the women.
