Wed, Sep 5, 2018
The workers start their journey in 1968, when The Beatles and Tom Jones are topping the pop music charts, Harold Wilson of Britain's Labor Party is Prime Minister and big hair abounds. It is also the year that female strikers in Dagenham brought a Ford automobile factory to a standstill and the question of women's pay into the headlines. The workers' first task is to produce pink nylon slips - a staple of British women's wardrobes in an era when only 30% of houses had central heating. But to do that they need to master the sewing and overlock machines on the factory floor. While some are amateur seamstresses, others, like the 17-year-old school dropout In the group, have never even threaded a needle before. The reality of the production line is a rude awakening for many - long monotonous hours with short breaks and few distractions - a situation made worse for some of the women when they discover that it's legal to refuse to serve an unaccompanied woman in a public bar. But that is far less of a shock than the moment they open their pay envelopes and realize that most of them are being paid less than half the rate of the men on the factory floor.