'Made in Dagenham' is an important film directed by Nigel Cole, set in 1968 about the change of gender equality, a group of female Ford machinists bring to Britain. Gender Discrimination was a strong theme that was present in this film. Gender discrimination was a huge issue during 1968 and was shown from the conflicts faced by the main character Rita O'Grady, and why these conflicts were important in this film. A conflict that was clearly present in the movie 'Made in Dagenham' was the relationship between Ford and its 187 female machinists. The female workers get paid less than the male workers because of the fact that they are simply woman in 1968 and were seen as 'second to men'. The woman had not seriously complained about this issue previously until they were regraded as unskilled and received a pay cut. This caused the woman to act out and demand a meeting with the Ford management with the help of their male friend, Albert, who also works at Ford and has experienced the effects of gender discrimination. During the meeting, The Ford representatives are ready the dismiss the woman's demands until Rita finds her voice and explains how things are for the woman of Ford and they should not be classified as un-skilled; "we are entitled to semi-skilled and the wages that come with it". This was hard for Rita to say as Ford are a powerful company run by men who see Rita and the other woman as 'less superior to them'. The purpose of this conflict by Cole was to show how powerful the men were and how insignificant the woman were. We witness this when an extreme high shot/high angle was taken of the woman in the factory to show them as a group and not individuals which is opposite to how the men were portrayed. This conflict was put in the movie to show how bad the discrimination was and how bad the conditions were for the woman to start fighting and standing up for themselves.
