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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
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 HistoryISSN
0143-0955Publisher
Oral History SocietyPublisher URL
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1Volume
43Page range
40-51Department affiliated with
- Politics Publications
Full text available
- Yes
Peer reviewed?
- Yes
Legacy Posted Date
2017-11-01First Open Access (FOA) Date
2017-11-01First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date
2017-11-01Usage metrics
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