MADE IN DAGENHAM PART 2

Places and Forms of Power : Made in Dagenham – scene 2 : NO SURRENDER

This extract deals with the meeting between the Minister of employment, Barbara Castle and a group of women led by Rita O'Grady. They are here to try to convince the Minister to support their cause (equal pay) and to help them get what they want.

At first, Mrs Castle seems quite supportive. She praises the women for their action, their fighting spirit. She even declares « I fully support the struggle for equal pay ». However, instead of granting the women their demands, she advises them to go back to work and promises to help them in the future. She behaves like a politician, making vague promises despite her genuine interest in the women's fight for justice. She reminds the women that they are up against powerful opponents : the Ford industry, Parliament, especially the House of Lords.

Rita challenges the Minister. She refuses to give up the fight (= she is determined to go on fighting for what is right). « That ain't good enough ». She is not intimidated by the power embodied by the Minister and stands up to her. She is dauntless and adamant. She reminds Barbara Castle that she has the power to make changes and that she is a working woman too, just like them.

Mrs Castle understands that Rita and the other women will not back down, so she starts negotiating.

In the end, the striking women obtain an immediate pay raise which puts them at 92 percent of the male rate and Mrs Castle promises to get the Equal Pay Act passed in Parliament. It was passed in 1970 as a direct result of the 1968 ford strike.

BAC: this film shows the power that men had over women in the workplace. Women were not on an equal footing with men as they were paid less even though they were skilled workers. In the 1960's women started fighting for power, they asserted their rights, challenged authority, demanded equality. They asserted their power by taking on (challenging) male-dominated trade unions, the Ford industry, and the government.