Mari brought the topic of Equal Pay to life for us with a
lively and engaging talk and unique images from the archives and from contemporary publications and records. Relating instances of women doing identical jobs to men but receiving far lower salaries. Difficult for us to envisage today perhaps but the reality not so long ago.
As Mari told us, one trigger was the 1968 strike at the Ford factory in Dagenham. 850 female sewing machinists went on strike because they were paid 15% less than men. She highlighted these amazing women and the film made about their struggle.
In May 1970, Labour Employment Minister Barbara Castle, who
had backed the Ford sewing machinists, introduced the Equal Pay Bill
which received Royal Assent on 29 May becoming the Equal Pay Act. During Q & A Mari explained that EU Membership also had an impact on equal pay.
From subsequent general discussion it was felt that despite parity on pay for doing the same work, in some industries a gender pay gap remains to this day.
Theresa May’s Government introduced mandatory Gender Pay Reporting, when employers with 250 or more employees must publish and report specific figures about their gender pay gap; almost all complied. Unfortunately due to Covid-19 this was suspended for the current year (2020). We look forward to its early return.