👷 The women's case
They argued that sewing car seats was skilled work and that they were being paid less because they were women. Their demand was to be regraded and paid the same as men.
Changes in Civil Rights, c1962-1986 » Feminism, Dagenham and the Equal Pay and Sex Discrimination Acts
What you'll learn this session
Study time: 30 minutes
Edexcel spec: Paper 2 Section B, Breadth study B8, Key topic 4
- How feminism grew in Britain in the late 1960s and 1970s
- Why the women at Ford in Dagenham went on strike in 1968
- What the Equal Pay Act (1970) and the Sex Discrimination Act (1975) did
- Why these laws changed less than campaigners hoped
In 1962 women could be paid less than men for the same work, simply because they were women, and the law allowed it. This lesson shows how a strike by factory workers and a new women's movement helped to change that.
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Unlock This CourseFeminism and the Women's Liberation Movement
Many women in the 1960s were working, but most were paid less than men and were kept out of the best jobs. Women's work, such as cleaning, typing and sewing, was often seen as unskilled and so was paid less. Some women wanted more than just a change in the law. They wanted a change in how society treated women.
Key terms:
- Feminism: the belief that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men, and the movement that campaigns for this.
- Strike: workers refusing to work, to put pressure on their employer.
In February 1970 the first national Women's Liberation conference was held at Ruskin College, Oxford. It agreed four demands: equal pay, equal education and job opportunities, free contraception and abortion on demand, and free 24-hour nurseries. Groups met in towns across Britain, and in November 1970 women protested at the Miss World contest at the Royal Albert Hall, which they said treated women like objects. The movement was often small and not everyone supported it, but it made the public talk about women's rights.
The Dagenham strike, 1968
Ford's huge car factory at Dagenham in Essex employed 187 women machinists, who sewed car seat covers. Ford had graded their work as unskilled, so they were paid less than men in semi-skilled jobs. The women said their work needed real skill. On 7 June 1968 they walked out. As supplies of seat covers ran out, car production was held up, which gave the strike real power.
💼 The government steps in
Barbara Castle, the Labour minister responsible for employment, met the strikers. After about three weeks the women went back. Their pay was raised to 92 per cent of the men's rate, but not to full equality.
The strike did not win equal pay on its own, but it made the issue very public. It put pressure on a Labour government and showed that women workers would take action.
Castle's Equal Pay Act, 1970
In 1970 Parliament passed Castle's Equal Pay Act. It said that a woman doing the same, or very similar, work as a man, or work rated as equal to his, must get the same pay and conditions. Employers were given until 29 December 1975 to prepare. So the law gave women a legal right, but it took five years to come into force.
There were weaknesses. Some employers regraded jobs so that women and men no longer did "the same work". Many women worked in jobs done almost only by women, such as cleaning, so they had no man to compare themselves with. Pay gaps did not disappear.
The Sex Discrimination Act, 1975
Equal pay was not enough if women were refused jobs or training in the first place. The Sex Discrimination Act of 1975 made it illegal to treat people less favourably because of their sex or because they were married. It covered jobs, education, training, housing and services such as shops and banks. It also set up the Equal Opportunities Commission to help enforce the law and tackle discrimination.
This act removed barriers that were not only about pay, such as employers who refused to hire women or girls who were kept out of subjects at school. Again there were limits. Some areas were exempt, and a woman had to bring a case herself, which was difficult and expensive.
Change and continuity
What changed: unequal pay and discrimination were now against the law, and women could take employers to a tribunal. What stayed the same: women still earned less on average than men, most worked in lower-paid jobs, and attitudes changed slowly. Feminism, the Dagenham strikers, trade unions and the government all played a part. No single factor did it alone.
Common mistakes
- Saying the Dagenham strike caused the Equal Pay Act directly. It was one important pressure among several.
- Mixing up the two laws. The 1970 act was about pay; the 1975 act was about discrimination in jobs, education and services.
- Saying the Equal Pay Act came into force in 1970. It was passed in 1970 and came into force on 29 December 1975.
- Saying women achieved full equality. The laws removed legal barriers, but pay gaps and attitudes remained.
Exam-style question
This is a Paper 2, Section B type (a) question. Make a direct comparison in each way, with a fact about both sides.
Explain TWO ways in which the campaign for equal pay in the late 1960s was different from the progress towards equal pay in the years 1944-62. [6 marks]
Model answer
One difference is who made the change happen. In 1944-62 equal pay in public service, such as teaching and the civil service, was agreed by the government in 1955 and phased in by 1961. It was agreed by the government after years of pressure from teachers' unions and women's groups, with no strike action. In 1968, by contrast, the Ford sewing machinists at Dagenham took strike action, stopping car production, and forced the government and Barbara Castle to take notice.
A second difference is the reach of the change. The 1950s agreement applied only to women in public service, so women in factories and shops had no right to equal pay. The Equal Pay Act (1970), however, was a law covering women in all employment, giving them a legal right to equal pay for the same or equivalent work once it came into force in 1975.
What lifts it to the top level: each way compares both periods directly, with a specific fact about each side, rather than describing one period only.
Exam tip
Use linking words such as "whereas", "by contrast" and "however" and put a fact on both sides. One way only scores at most 3 of the 6 marks.
Recap
- Feminism grew in the late 1960s, and the 1970 Ruskin College conference set four demands, including equal pay.
- 187 Ford women at Dagenham struck in June 1968 and won 92 per cent of the men's rate.
- The Equal Pay Act (1970) came into force in December 1975; the Sex Discrimination Act (1975) banned sex discrimination in jobs, education and services.
- The laws were important but limited: pay gaps and attitudes remained.