In 1968, female machinists working at the Ford plant in the London suburb of Dagenham go on strike for equal salaries.

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When the regular shop steward is distracted by her husband's post-war trauma, the shy but clever Rita (Sally Hawkins, extraordinary as usual) takes over negotiations for 187 machinists at the Ford plant (which also employs 185,000 men) in an attempt to get better working conditions for women. As Rita finds herself fighting not only the patriarchy, but the misogynist and corrupt union, men in general and her husband in particular, the dispute becomes a full-blown strike that will resonate throughout the UK...

Movie version of an historic moment in the emancipation of women, directed by Nigel Cole, who uses archival footage to help tell his story. Sprinkled with British humor and intelligently set during the Swinging Sixties, which included leftover trauma from the Second World War, Made in Dagenham reminds viewers that both men and women need to stand up for their convictions.