<P> The Ford sewing machinists strike of 1968 was a landmark labour - relations dispute in the United Kingdom . It was a trigger cause of the passing of the Equal Pay Act 1970 . </P> <P> The strike, led by Rose Boland, Eileen Pullen, Vera Sime, Gwen Davis, and Sheila Douglass, began on 7 June 1968, when women sewing machinists at Ford Motor Company Limited's Dagenham plant in London walked out, followed later by the machinists at Ford's Halewood Body & Assembly plant . The women made car seat covers and as stock ran out the strike eventually resulted in a halt to all car production . </P> <P> The Dagenham sewing machinists walked out when, as part of a regrading exercise, they were informed that their jobs were graded in Category B (less skilled production jobs), instead of Category C (more skilled production jobs), and that they would be paid 15% less than the full B rate received by men . At the time it was common practice for companies to pay women less than men, irrespective of the skills involved . </P>

Where did female machinists go on strike in 1968