Taking the Floor at Ford: women in a man's world
Taking the Floor at Ford: In Conversation with Debbie Bacon and Lolly Gresty, former employees at Ford Transit Assembly Plant, Southampton, 23 October 2017. [This event was part of the SO: To Speak Festival] “ I feel I’ve been very fortunate to have been brought up in a time when girls were allowed to do whatever they wanted basically. Just tap on the right door and make sure they let you in. And not give up .” [Debbie] And she didn’t give up – not when she and her friends at school had to fight to be allowed to study technical drawing usually only offered to boys; not when Factories Act rules placed restrictions during her apprenticeship at Ford Dagenham; nor when she was faced with resentful male colleagues on becoming their supervisor. It was this resilience and determination that helped Debbie and other women like her to succeed in male-dominated workplaces in manufacturing and engineering. These stories were the focus of our discussion at the packed-out event...