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 fightingspirit. 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.
I was appointed as Goodwill Ambassador for UN
Women six months ago. And, the more I spoke about feminism, the more I
realized that fighting for women’s rights has too often become synonymous with
man-hating. If there is one thing I know for certain, it is that this has to
stop.
For the record, feminism by definition is the
belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities. It is the
theory of political, economic and social equality of the sexes.
I started questioning gender-based assumptions a
long time ago. When I was 8, I was confused for being called bossy because I
wanted to direct the plays that we would put on for our parents, but the boys
were not. When at 14, I started to be sexualized by certain elements of the
media. When at 15, my girlfriends started dropping out of sports teams because
they didn’t want to appear muscly. When at 18, my male friends were unable to
express their feelings.
I decided that I was a feminist, and this seemed
uncomplicated to me. But my recent research has shown me that feminism has
become an unpopular word. Women are choosing not to identify as feminists.
Apparently, I’m among the ranks of women whose expressions are seen as too
strong, too aggressive, isolating, and anti-men. Unattractive, even.
Why has the word become such an uncomfortable
one? I am from Britain, and I think it is right I am paid the same as my male
counterparts. I think it is right that I should be able to make decisions about
my own body. I think it is right that women be involved on my behalf in the
policies and decisions that will affect my life. I think it is right that
socially, I am afforded the same respect as men.
But sadly, I can say that there is no one
country in the world where all women can expect to see these rights. No country
in the world can yet say that they achieved gender equality. These rights, I
consider to be human rights, but I am one of the lucky ones.
My life is a sheer privilege because my parents
didn’t love me less because I was born a daughter. My school did not limit me because I was a
girl. My mentors didn't assume
that I would go less far because I might give birth to a child one day. These
influences were the gender equality ambassadors that made me who I am today.
They may not know it, but they are the inadvertent feminists that are changing
the world today. We need more of those.
And if you still hate the word, it is not the
word that is important. It’s the idea and the ambition behind it, because not
all women have received the same rights I have. In fact, statistically, very
few have.
In 1997, Hillary Clinton made a famous speech in Beijing about women’s rights. Sadly, many of the
things that she wanted to change are still true today. But what stood out for
me the most was that less than thirty percent of the audience were male. How
can we effect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel
welcome to participate in the conversation?
Men, I would like to take this opportunity to
extend your formal invitation. Gender equality is your issue, too. Because to
date, I’ve seen my father’s role as a parent being valued less by society,
despite my need of his presence as a child, as much as my mother’s. I’ve seen
young men suffering from mental illness, unable to ask for help for fear it would make them less of a man. In
fact, in the UK, suicide is the biggest killer of men between 20 to 49,
eclipsing road accidents, cancer and coronary heart disease. I’ve seen men made
fragile and insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male success. Men
don’t have the benefits of equality, either.
We don’t often talk about men being imprisoned
by gender stereotypes, but I can see that they are, and that when they are
free, things will change for women as a natural consequence. If men don’t have
to be aggressive in order to be accepted, women won’t feel compelled to be submissive.
If men don’t have to
control, women won’t have to be controlled.
Both men and women should feel free to be
sensitive. Both men and women should feel free to be strong. It is time that we
all perceive gender on a spectrum, instead of two sets of opposing ideals. If
we stop defining each other by what we are not, and start defining ourselves by
who we are, we can all be freer, and this is what HeForShe is about. It’s about freedom.
I want men to take up this mantle so that their
daughters, sisters, and mothers can be free from prejudice, but also so that
their sons have permission to be vulnerable and human too, reclaim those parts
of themselves they abandoned, and in doing so, be a more true and complete
version of themselves.
You might be thinking, “Who is this Harry Potter
girl, and what is she doing speaking at the UN?” And, it’s a really good
question. I’ve been asking myself the same thing.
All I know is that I care about this problem,
and I want to make it better. And, having seen what I’ve seen, and given the
chance, I feel it is my responsibility to say something.
Statesman Edmund Burke said, “All that is needed
for the forces of evil to triumph is for good men and women to do nothing.”
In my nervousness for this speech and in my
moments of doubt, I told myself firmly, “If not me, who? If not now, when?” If
you have similar doubts when opportunities are presented to you, I hope those
words will be helpful. Because the reality is that if we do nothing, it will
take seventy-five years, or for me to be nearly 100, before women can expect to be
paid the same as men for the same work. 15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children. And
at current rates, it won't be until 2086 before all rural African girls can
have a secondary education.
If you believe in equality, you might be one of
those inadvertent feminists that I spoke of earlier, and for this, I applaud
you. We are struggling for a uniting word, but the good news is, we have a
uniting movement. It is called HeForShe. I invite you to step forward, to be
seen and to ask yourself, “If not me, who? If not now, when?”
Here are a few notes on the first scene we studied: Rita's Speech - Places and Forms of Power
Made In
Dagenham (directed by Nigel Cole, 2010)
it is based
on a true story – it is set in Britain in the 60's – it's about a group of
women, factory workers who go on strike to demand equal pay - they are
considered as unskilled workers although the work they do (they are sewing
machinists) requires great skills, they are paid less than men and are
discriminated against.
The film
tiesin well with the notion of power:
The women
who go on strike challenge the power and authority of male-dominated groups and
institutions: the trade union, the government, and the heads of Ford Industry.They are led
by a brave and bold woman: Rita O'Grady who is a worker in a Ford car-making
factory
Rita's
Speech
In the first
scene we watched, Rita is making a speech in front of her union delegates, who
are all men:
Monty, their
leader is patronizing and disdainful: he considers that women are asking for
too much, too soon, he doesn't take them seriously , Then it is Rita’s turn to
make a speech; it is interesting to note that the other male delegates are
willing to listen to her, they are more open-minded than Monty, they encourage
her to speak up. At first, Rita is very nervous, she is not used to making
speeches. She urges the union delegates to back up the women's demands because
it's a matter of principle, she insists that they all belong to the working
class that men and men and women must fight together for what is right and as
she says “equal pay for women is right”. The men in the audience listen to her
carefully and respectfully and seem to be on her side (except Monty and the
older men)
so in this
scene, there is a shift in power: a new, younger generation is taking over; the
old generation has been defeated; women are beginning to assert themselves,
they are gaining power
They
challenge the form of power embodied by the older generation of male trade
unionists
“Where there is power, there is
resistance.” Michel Foucault
“Recognizing power in another does not diminish your own.”
Joss Whedon
« Power
isn’t control at all — power is strength, and giving that
strength to others. A leader isn’t someone who forces others to
make him stronger; a leader is someone willing to give his strength
to others that they may have the strength to stand on their own.”
