Made in Dagenham (2010)
Based on a real strike by women workers, Made in Dagenham depicts its protagonists as overcoming class and gender divisions, but its narrative of progress elides the subsequent effects of Thatcherism.
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This post is part of the ‘Rewound’ series of analyses of objects or episodes from cultural and political history. It is available in full only to paid subscribers.
Content warnings: Suicide; Domestic violence.
Spoiler alert: This analysis of the film Made in Dagenham and its themes reveals plot details for the purpose of enhancing that analysis.
Based on real events that occurred in 1968, Made in Dagenham introduces its audience to an intergenerational group of women sewing machinists at Ford’s Dagenham factory on the outskirts of London. They include Rita O’Grady (Sally Hawkins), whose husband Eddie (Daniel Mays) also works for Ford; middle-aged Connie (Geraldine James), married to traumatised RAF veteran George (Roger Lloyd Pack), and the younger Brenda (Andrea Riseborough) and Sandra (Jaime Winstone). The apparently contented suburban working-class community presented is disrupted by a dispute over the machinists’ pay under Ford’s new grading system, which they feel underestimates the skill that their work involves, on the basis of their gender.
With neither Ford nor their union’s senior officials taking their complaint seriously, Rita leads her co-workers out on strike and begins advocating for women’s equal pay, with their demonstrations capturing national media attention. Though Eddie and the other male workers are initially supportive, the strike leads to car production ceasing and their being temporarily laid off. The resulting financial hardship and Rita’s newfound fame placed strain on their marriage, while tragedy also strikes Connie when George commits suicide. The standoff over the wage dispute is ultimately resolved when employment secretary Barbara Castle (Miranda Richardson) intervenes, securing the women an immediate pay rise and promising equal pay legislation, duly introduced in 1970.
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