Tag Archives: made in dagenham

Frisky Q&A: Sally Hawkins Of “Made In Dagenham”

Jessica WakemanNovember 17, 2010 //

Beating Meryl Streep for a 2009 Best Actress Golden Globe is no small feat. After watching actress Sally Hawkins in her latest film, “Made In Dagenham,” I now fully understand her talent. In the movie, which is based on a true story, Sally plays a working-class woman in 1968 Britain who sews car seat upholstery at the Ford Motor Company factory. Her fictional character leads a strike of women workers against Ford until they agree to pay the women equal wages to male workers. The strike made history because it led the British government to enact equal pay legislation into law.

After a recent screening of “Made In Dagenham,” I briefly chatted with the soft-spoken, almost shy Sally Hawkins about the film: Keep reading »

We See Chick Flicks: “Made In Dagenham”

Jessica WakemanNovember 16, 2010 //

Starring Sally Hawkins, Miranda Richardson, Rosamund Pike, and Bob Hoskins

We all know what 1960s America looked like for white-collar professional women like the ones on “Mad Men.” While Joan and Peggy were fighting off handsy account men in New York’s office towers, women in working-class towns like Dagenham, England, were doing hand-to-hand combat as well — only against the entire Ford Motor Company. “Made In Dagenham” is based on the true story of 187 women who sewed car seat upholstery for a Ford plant in Britain and what happens when they banded together to fight exploitation by their bosses. Their classification as “unskilled” laborers and the fact that they earned a fraction of the male employees’ paychecks led these strong, brave ladies to launch a history-making 1968 strike. Keep reading »