Suffragettes

DONNET LOLA

-Made in Dagenham + Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968

Both documents tell the story of seamstress machinists working in Ford’s factory in London. In spring 1968, 183 workers lift and strike because of wage inequalities between men and women. They call for equal pay for men and women.  Indeed, their salaries remain 15% lower than that of their male colleagues and they have just been reclassified into a category of less skilled workers. They announce three weeks of strike halting production of Ford cars in the United Kingdom. « Made in Dagenham » is inspired by this true story. In 1968, the movement is led by led by Rose Boland, Eileen Pullen, Vera Sime, Gwen Davis, and Sheila Douglass.

The strike ends with the intervention of Barbara Castle, the Secretary of State for Employment and Productivity in Harold Wilson's government, when they get an agreement that gives them 8% less pay than men and then ends up being paid in Class B the following year.
Their strike led to the creation of other movements in the country and the signing of the Equal Pay Act in 1970, the first law to prohibit wage discrimination between men and women.

-Story of suffagettes BBC news 

The document from BBC news tell the story of suffragettes, women who, first in Great Britain, campaigned for the right to vote for women. Indeed these women fighting against the inequalities between them and men. The problem highlighted in this document is the way that the suffragettes were seen at this time. Indeed, they were not seen as activists fighting for their rights but like terrorists. Not terrorist like we think now. They were treated like crazy and desperate women. Their revendications were not taken seriously. 124 women were arrested because of their actions, deterioration, fire… But they were violently arrested, they were beaten, humiliated.

Nevertheless, they get the right to vote after years of manifestation in 1928.

...