Made In Dagenham

I wasn’t sure quite what to expect when watching this film in our discourse lecture, and to be quite honest it didn’t appeal to me other than the fact that I live in the neighbouring town, Romford. The only thing I knew about it was the posters I’d seen of the female characters, and ashamedly I judged the film almost instantaneously without further knowledge of the content. It started off showing the life for women during the 1960’s. Women were inferior, earning less than men simply because they were…female. Women being physically weaker made them vulnerable and not taken seriously by their male counter parts, like delicate creatures. If a wife isn’t obedient she is judged both by men and women, she should know her place and job as to please her husband and care for her household. 

One character who really frustrated me was ‘Lisa Hopkins’. With a history degree from Cambridge she ended up as a trophy wife; a matter that still happens today with some cultures, the woman gets her degree only to be married off and raise a family. If it is her choice then by all means, but personally I feel that the education she worked so hard to achieve, has gone to waste. With all her education, Lisa didn’t have the courage to stand for what was right, whereas the main character and female heroin Rita, who came from a poor background with little or no education believed strongly in the cause enough to risk her marriage and family. She proved that all it takes is a little confidence and determination to breakthrough something big. She proved that women can’t be bought off with money or compliments. She proved that women were worth more than just their appearance, and ability to bear children. The change may have been insignificant to everyone around Rita, but to her and her colleagues/friends it meant much more. She couldn’t convince everyone of her cause, but those she did were fully inspired by her as am I.

“You can’t outwit fate by standing on the side-lines placing little side bets about the outcome of life. Either you wade in and risk everything you have to play the game or you don’t play at all. And if you don’t play you can’t win.” (McNaught)




Figure 1 Equal Pay Strike (1968)


Stockton, (2013) 50 Awesome Quotes that Will Inspire You To Take That Risk. At: http://thoughtcatalog.com/christine-stockton/2013/07/50-awesome-quotes-that-will-inspire-you-to-take-that-risk/ Accessed on 02.05.14)