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'We didn't realise how brave we were at the time': the 1968 Ford sewing machinists' strike in public and personal memory

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 08:31 authored by Jonathan MossJonathan Moss
The 1968 sewing machinists' strike for equal grading at Ford's plant in Dagenham has been identified as a key moment in the history of women and work, widely associated with prompting the 1970 Equal Pay Act and presaging a period that saw the emergence of the Women's Liberation Movement and increased gender equality in Britain. Public memory of the strike's legacy was transmitted to a wider audience through the 2010 feature film Made in Dagenham. This article shows that this was not necessarily how the sewing machinists understood the strike's outcome at the time, or in the period since. The article considers the impact of film on the personal memory of women involved in the dispute and explores how they negotiated the tension between their newfound public role as history-makers and their personal experience of defeat.

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Published version

Journal

Oral History

ISSN

0143-0955

Publisher

Oral History Society

Issue

1

Volume

43

Page range

40-51

Department affiliated with

  • Politics Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2017-11-01

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2017-11-01

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2017-11-01

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