Sarah Boston on the women who fought for and ultimately won recognition of the skill and value of their work
In her long read article (‘Pretty birds and silly moos’: the women behind the Sex Discrimination Act, 18 December), Susanna Rustin details some of the women who campaigned to make illegal the many forms of legal discrimination against women in services and in the workplace. One of the key groups of women she cites in this campaign were the “187 sewing machinists at Ford’s Dagenham Plant” who “forced the issue” with their 1968 strike for equal pay.
The sewing machinists did not go on strike primarily for equal pay. They were outraged that the 1967 new grade structure introduced by the Ford Motor Company had evaluated the their work as grade B. The sewing machinists believed their work was at least semi-skilled and should have been graded C. Continue reading…
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